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The Shun Electronics' KL Radio division wants to expand the three departmental cost centers to eight, each with its own overhead cost allocation rate. As a result, it appears that the total costs for four of their six radios will increase, while two will decrease. The case puts students in the role of having to (a) understand why such a result occurred; (b) explain the specific changes made in the cost allocation system; and (c) evaluate whether the changes are an improvement.

Describes the considerations entering into a long-term debt rating.

This case provides students with an opportunity to understand how to analyze costs and profit at the service-line level. Students have a chance to allocate general and administrative costs to service lines in a number of different ways and are directed toward considering drivers of overhead expenses in the allocation process. In addition, students should be challenged to discuss whether it even makes sense, in this setting, to allocate all the general and administrative costs. Finally, students are asked to calculate the incremental contribution margin percentage for each service line, and determine which service line(s) Finnegan should try to expand.

This case presents an opportunity for students to use flexible budgeting to perform a variance analysis on the operating results of EntertainmentNow.com. First, the company's original budget is flexed to account for changes in sales volume. Then, actual results are compared to the flexed budget and analyzed for product mix, price, cost of goods sold, efficiency, and other variances. In addition, the case requires a simple calculation to determine the breakeven level of sales given the company's current variable and fixed costs.

Outsourcing has become a way for companies to change their cost structures overnight. Even fixed costs can become variable. Depending on the types of relevant costs, a firm must decide between outsourcing and "do it yourself." But how can a small business owner determine whether a cost is relevant? The frameworks suggested here offer examples of quantitative analysis using combinations of variable direct, labor, discretionary fixed, and committed fixed direct costs. Using learning curve analysis, demonstrated indifference, Monte Carlo simulation, and economic value added, accountants can evaluate such situations and help steer the firm toward the right decision.

Even though Ford Motor Co. reports improved profitability, an equity analyst issues a sell recommendation and Standard & Poor's downgrades long-term debt.

Supplements the (A) case.

The December 20, 1994 Mexican devaluation creates U.S. dollar losses for an unprepared U.S. corporation with multiple operations in Mexico.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 104053.

Abstract to follow.

Now that companies such as General Electric and Citigroup have accepted the premise that employee stock options are an expense, the debate is shifting from whether to report options on income statements to how to report them. The authors present a new accounting mechanism that maintains the rationale underlying stock option expensing while addressing critics' concerns about measurement error and the lack of reconciliation to actual experience. A procedure they call fair-value expensing adjusts and eventually reconciles cost estimates made at grant date with subsequent changes in the value of the options, and it does so in a way that eliminates forecasting and measurement errors over time. The method captures the chief characteristic of stock option compensation--that employees receive part of their compensation in the form of a contingent claim on the value they are helping to produce. The mechanism involves creating entries on both the asset and equity sides of the balance sheet. On the asset side, companies create a prepaid-compensation account equal to the estimated cost of the options granted; on the owners'-equity side, they create a paid-in capital stock-option account for the same amount. The prepaid-compensation account is then expensed through the income statement, and the stock option account is adjusted on the balance sheet to reflect changes in the estimated fair value of the granted options. The amortization of prepaid compensation is added to the change in the option grant's value to provide the total reported expense of the options grant for the year. At the end of the vesting period, the company uses the fair value of the vested option to make a final adjustment on the income statement to reconcile any difference between that fair value and the total of the amounts already reported.

The new WorldCom (to be known as MCI) will come out of Chapter 11 as a formidable competitor. That's left some experts questioning U.S. bankruptcy laws.

A well-known financial analyst claims that eBay has never been profitable and currently does not generate any "unfettered" cash flow.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 104049.

Juan Luis Rojas, commercial planning manager of a Caja de Ahorros (savings bank), faces the challenge of motivating the branches to sell more long-term mortgages and ponders whether to use transfer prices to achieve his objective.

In late 2001, the directors of Pfizer asked that very question. And with good reason. After its 2000 merger with rival Warner-Lambert, the New York-based pharmaceutical giant found itself sitting on a net cash position of $6 billion, which seemed extraordinarily conservative for a company whose products generated $30 billion in revenues. Most large companies with revenues that healthy would increase leverage, thereby unlocking tremendous value for shareholders. But knowledge-intensive companies like Pfizer, this author argues, are in a class apart. Because their largely intangible assets (like R&D) are highly volatile and cannot easily be valued, they are more vulnerable to financial distress than are firms with a preponderance of tangible assets. To insure against that risk, they need to maintain large positive cash balances. Only by investing in their intangible assets can knowledge-based companies hope to preserve the value of those assets.

Regulators are trying to clear up the muddle created by earnings-report adjustments called "pro formas" that companies issue. Constraining such reporting, as the regulators seem bent on doing, isn't the solution. Firms should increase alternative reporting--and fully account for their accounting.

An abstract is not available for this product.

Supplements the (A) case.