Question & Answer

BT Openreach is responsible for providing and maintaining the fixed-line network connections to customers in the UK. This includes the huge system of telegraph poles and cable ducts (small underground tunnels) that carry telecom lines between BT exchanges and houses/business premises. To what extent do you think this is a natural monopoly?

How is nano-imprint lithography different from micro-imprint lithography?

Why is friction generally undesirable in metal forming operations?

The following are three independent, unrelated sets of facts relating to accounting changes. Situation 1: Sanford Company is in the process of having its first audit. The company has used the cash basis of accounting for revenue recognition. Sanford president, B. J. Jimenez, is willing to change to the accrual method of revenue recognition. Situation 2: Hopkins Co. decides in January 2015 to change from FIFO to weighted-average pricing for its inventories. Situation 3: Marshall Co. determined that the depreciable lives of its fixed assets are too long at present to fairly match the cost of the fixed assets with the revenue produced. The company decided at the beginning of the current year to reduce the depreciable lives of all of its existing fixed assets by 5 years. Instructions For each of the situations described, provide the information indicated below. (a) Type of accounting change. (b) Manner of reporting the change under current generally accepted accounting principles, including a discussion where applicable of how amounts are computed. (c) Effect of the change on the balance sheet and income statement.

How are traditional composites distinguished from synthetic composites?

Environmental accounting reports; ABC and ABM for environmental costs Many countries provide motivation for entities to produce environmental accounting reports. For example, 17 countries - United Kingdom, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany among others - participate in the European Environmental Reporting Awards program. In Japan, the Global Sustainability Forum and the National Association for the Promotion of Environmental Conservation have given Environmental Report Awards since 1997. In addition, Toyo Keizai and the Green Reporting Forum have given a Green Reporting Award since 1998. These awards encourage organisations to take responsibility for environmental conditions that affect the wellbeing of society as a whole. Visy Industries in Australia (refer to self-study problem 1) has also been recognised by similar Australian sustainability awards programs.                                  You are required to conduct research about corporate environmental disclosures. Choose one company located in Japan and a competitor located in Australia. Go to each company’s website and search for information about its environmental policies and procedures.   Also conduct research to find governmental guidelines for environmental accounting. Go to the website of the Environmental Protection Authority in your state or territory (for example, www.epa.vic.gov.au; www.epa.sa.gov.au) and search for information about environmental or sustainability accounting. Now perform a similar search on the website of Japan’s Ministry of the Environment (www.env.go.jp/en/). Skim through the information that you find on each website.   In its Environmental Accounting Guidelines, Japan’s Ministry of the Environment identified the following environmental conservation cost categories:         Required (a)     Is environmental accounting an ethical issue? Why? (b)     Which company provides the easiest-to-find and most understandable information about environmental policies and procedures? Explain. (c)     Discuss a company’s responsibilities for reporting environmental information to various stakeholders, including shareholders, managers, employees, other companies, government regulators, product customers and the general public. (d)     If one company provides better reporting than a competitor of its environmental behaviour, policies, and procedures, does that mean the company is more environmentally responsible than its competitor? Why? (e)     What factors are likely to affect an entity’s willingness to publish an environmental accounting report? (f)      Discuss possible reasons why the governments of different countries place different degrees of emphasis on environmental accounting reports. (g)     Discuss ways in which ABC systems could be used to capture information for environmental accounting reports. (h)     Discuss ways in which the process of preparing and publishing an environmental accounting report is likely to help a company reduce its environmental costs. (i)      Should all governments require companies to publish environmental accounting reports? What values did you use to arrive at your conclusion?             (LO1, 2, 3 and 4)

1.    : If managerial work is characterized by variety, fragmentation, and brevity, how do managers perform basic management functions such as planning and strategic management, which would seem to require reflection and analysis?

: Define the management types and roles that managers perform in organizations.

The behavior of nanoscale structures is different from macroscale and even microscale structures due to two factors mentioned in the text. What are those two factors?

What are the three basic components of an automated system?

In a surface grinding operation wheel diameter = 150 mm and infeed = 0.07 mm. Wheel speed = 1450 m/min, workspeed = 0.25 m/s, and crossfeed = 5 mm. The number of active grits per area of wheel surface = 0.75 grits/mm2 . Determine (a) average length per chip, (b) metal removal rate, and (c) number of chips formed per unit time for the portion of the operation when the wheel is engaged in the work.

In general, what is the concept of earnings and profits (E&P) designed to represent?

Faith, a resident of Florida (11th Circuit), recently found a circuit court case that is favorable to her research question.  Which two circuits would she prefer to have issued the opinion?

What is the difference between fixed automation and programmable automation?

Would increasing the money supply growth place upward or downward pressure on interest rates? (LO1, LO2)

Baker Corporation owned a building located in Kansas. Baker used the building for its business operations. Last year, a tornado hit the property and completely destroyed it. This year, Baker received an insurance settlement. Baker had originally purchased the building for $350,000 and had claimed a total of $100,000 of depreciation deductions against the property. What are Baker’s realized and recognized gain or (loss) on this transaction and what is its basis in the new building in the following alternative scenarios? a. Baker received $450,000 in insurance proceeds and spent $450,000 rebuilding the building during the current year. b. Baker received $450,000 in insurance proceeds and spent $500,000 rebuilding the building during the current year. c. Baker received $450,000 in insurance proceeds and spent $400,000 rebuilding the building during the current year. d. Baker received $450,000 in insurance proceeds and spent $450,000 rebuilding the building during the next three years.

Will the envelope curve be tangential to the bottom of each of the short-run average cost curves? Explain why it should or should not be.

Identify some materials that have a crystalline structure.

The power source in a particular welding operation generates 125 Btu/min, which is transferred to the work surface with heat transfer factor = 0.8. The melting point for the metal to be welded = 1800°F and its melting factor = 0.5. A continuous fillet weld is to be made with a cross-sectional area = 0.04 in2. Determine the travel speed at which the welding operation can be accomplished.

Give some examples of mental short-cuts/heuristics that you use. Why do you use them?

Discuss the relative merits of the different methods used by the All England Club to allocate tickets for Wimbledon each year.

What is a capital good? Provide an example.

Explain how the holding of a range of assets in people’s portfolios may help to create a more direct link between changes in money supply and changes in aggregate demand.

What is the formula for the net interest margin? Explain why it is closely monitored by banks. (LO3)

Describe the major components of the humanistic management perspective.