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Provides an overview of accounting for deferred taxes. The primary objective is to provide external users with a basic understanding of deferred taxes. A simple illustrative example is provided, which is followed by a discussion of several important issues likely to be encountered in the analysis of deferred taxes (e.g., deferred tax assets vs. liabilities, balance sheet classification, permanent differences, statutory vs. effective tax rate, net operating loss carry forwards, and valuation allowances). The discussion of these issues is brief and non-technical. Provides actual deferred tax information from AOL's Form 10-K, where net operating loss carry forwards result in a large deferred tax asset and the accounting for software and deferred subscriber acquisition costs generate a large differed tax liability.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 107047.

In 2006, Jiang Wei, CFO of China Resources Corporation, was seeking to implement a variety of new management control systems in a complex diversified corporation during a period of rapid economic expansion in mainland China. Instilling efficiency, productivity, management, and control into what had been a traditional state-owned enterprise posed challenges on many fronts. The case enables a discussion of the various ways in which balanced scorecards and strategy maps can be integrated with traditional management control systems to govern strategy implementation in a diversified corporation. Additionally, it allows students to appreciate the benefits and challenges of using highly formal performance management systems in the face of strategic uncertainty.

Supplements the (A) case.

A couple has to decide whether to continue renting a townhouse or buy the one next door. Allows for a discussion of net present value, internal rate of return, and the costs and benefits of homeownership.

On a recent visit to Australia, Anna Amphlett and Andrew Ferris observed Australians consuming large numbers of meat pies, the national food of Australia. Believing that Americans would also enjoy consuming meat pies, they developed plans to sell authentic Australian meat pies-Aussie Pies-from a store at Seattle, Washington's Pike Place Market. Amphlett and Ferris obtained information on the costs of making a meat pie and operating a store at Pike Place Market. Market research provided estimates of how much consumers might pay for a meat pie, given competition from traditional U.S. fast food, such as hamburgers and hot-dogs.

Anna Amphlett and Andrew Ferris are in the planning stages of developing and operating a store in Seattle's Pike Place Market that would make and distribute Australian meat pies under the trademarked name, Aussie Pies. The meat pies would be made from lean beef raised using no hormones or insecticides. The retail store where the pies would be made and distributed would be visibly clean and hygienic to customers who would be able to see the production area at the back of the store through a large glass wall. Amphlett and Ferris have contributed to the business the land they purchased in Pike place Market. The entrepreneurs have approached Puget Sound Band for a loan, but the bank asked the entrepreneurs to provide the company's business plan including project financial statements for the first year of operations.

Scholarly literature has discussed why entities make voluntary accounting changes, and practice grapples with which change might be appropriate and when. Regulators have set forth a requirement that public companies file preferability letters with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicating the auditor's support for the particular change. Descriptive profiling of these letters from 1992 through 2004 leads to prescriptions that address practice challenges and regulators' expectations. Broad policy questions involve whether such changes ought to be permitted and what independence considerations arise as managers, directors, auditors, and regulators discuss and sometimes disagree on the preferred accounting principles.

Faced with press allegations that executives' stock options might have been backdated, the Board of UnitedHealth Group needs to determine whether its accounting for the options was proper, and if not, what the restatement amount should be and what governance/compensation changes, if any, it should undertake. From an accounting standpoint, allows for the discussion of different methods to account for stock options--intrinsic value method versus fair value--and the differences in the degree of monitoring associated with amounts recognized in the financial statements and amounts only disclosed in footnotes. From a corporate governance standpoint, discusses how the board of directors should respond to this type of crisis in a company with an otherwise exceptional financial performance largely attributed to its long-tenured CEO.

Introduces students to factors that impact global equity flows, including institutional friction, investor protection, firm visibility, firm understanding, and culture.

In December 2004, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) adopted a new standard of accounting for employee stock options (ESOs). This standard, entitled Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 123R, requires that ESOs be valued at the date of grant and expensed over the vesting period of the options. The signatories to this position paper strongly oppose this revision to GAAP because they believe that the expensing of ESOs is improper accounting that will result in the serious impairment of the financial statements of companies that are users of broad-based option plans. The case against expensing ESOs can be summed up in six simple statements: an ESO is a "gain-sharing instrument" in which shareholders agree to share their gains (stock appreciation), if any, with employees; a gain-sharing instrument, by its nature, has no accounting cost unless and until there is a gain to be shared; the cost of a gain-sharing instrument must be located on the books of the party that reaps the gain--in the case of an ESO the gain is reaped by shareholders and not by the enterprise; the cost of the ESO, therefore, is borne by the shareholders; this cost to shareholders (which, not coincidentally, exactly equals the employee's post-tax profit) is already properly accounted for under the treasury stock method of accounting (described in FAS 128, entitled "Earnings per Share") as a transfer of value from shareholders to employee option holders; and neither the grant nor the vesting of an ESO meets the standard accounting definition of an expense. These six statements lead to the conclusion that an ESO, while it may have an economic cost to shareholders, is not an expense of the entity that grants it.

Jenny Chen, CA, CFA, CMC has been hired by Jane Wallace of High Performance Tire. Jane, who inherited the firm from her parents, had successfully run the company for many years. When she transferred the responsibility to her son William in 2001, he began to make several changes in order to expand the number of outlets, diversify the product offering, and cut costs in the company. In 2004, the company was having difficulties and Jane decided to become more involved in the family business once again. Jenny's task is to review and analyze the company operations and make recommendations.

In 1999, Pulsar's chairman and CEO, Jenny Jones appointed her daughter-in-law, Kyla Jacobs-Jones to run Caltron. Caltron, a calculator manufacturer, was fully owned by Pulsar. Caltron was facing stiff competition from abroad, and in 2001 members of Pulsar's board of directors began to put pressure on Jones to divest it. Jacobs-Jones was given two years to turn the unit around before revisiting the decision to divest Caltron. In 2004, Dan O'Shea, CA, CFA, a corporate financial consultant with KPMG has been hired to review and analyze the company operations and make recommendations.

The vice-president of operations must submit a valuation and recommendation to expand his plant to handle a doubling of sales over the next three years. Students will have to understand the process review for capital allocation in this large corporation in order to make their recommendation, as well as complete a discounted cash flow.

The vice-president of operations must submit a valuation and recommendation to expand his plant to handle a doubling of sales over the next three years. Students will have to understand the process review for capital allocation in this large corporation in order to make their recommendation, as well as complete a discounted cash flow.

In April 2004, Singapore's Straits Times alleged in an article that T.T. Durai, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), had been drawing on public donations to pay for his generous salary, perks, and expenses. The media also discovered that Durai had installed extravagant fittings, including a gold-plated tap, in his office bathroom. Singaporeans, especially donors, were outraged at how the NKF had mismanaged donor funds. Finally, after intense public pressure, Durai and the NKF Board resigned in July 2005. Illustrates the importance of governance, transparency, and public accountability among social enterprises, and the consequences of weak internal controls over financial reporting.

This note introduces students to the annual report of a company and ratio analysis, comparing over time and across industry.

This note introduces students to the annual report of a company and ratio analysis, comparing over time and across industry.

The owner of a restaurant serving Middle Eastern cuisine realizes the need for a bigger location due to extreme customer congestion. He is contemplating moving the restaurant to a new location that would require $255,000 of renovations in order to keep pace with his growing consumer base. Students are asked to: 1) identify those items relevant to the decision and categorize them as either recurring or one-time flows; 2) understand that recurring flows consist of both fixed and variable costs; 3) identify investments, including working capital accounts; 4) calculate return on investment and 5) make a decision based on both qualitative and quantitative analysis.

The owner and sole proprietor of a small clothing company has to plan a future marketing strategy. The company has not yet generated a profit from the seasonal store operation in Sauble Beach or from annual sales in two London, Ontario fitness clubs. This case will expose students to major marketing decisions involving product, price, promotion and place (distribution). It will also emphasize the importance of a thorough market analysis and corporate capabilities analysis before evaluating marketing alternatives and making decision. The case gives students practice calculating contribution and contribution margin rates and encourages students to develop a promotional strategy around a new method of distribution. Students also learn how to illustrate the use of a projected income statement, which will crystallize the student's marketing decisions.