Many critics of GASB Statement No. 14 and its amendment, GASB Statement No. 39, believe that the standards cast too wide a net—that it requires governments to include in their reporting entity organizations over which the primary government has little control. For example, suppose that a city’s mayor appoints the majority of the governing board of an authority but that the city has only minimal ability to influence the decisions of that board. As long as the city gets some financial benefit from the authority or has some burden of responsibility for it, it must include the authority in its reporting entity. Do you agree with the critics? Explain.
> Explain intensive, exclusive, and selective forms of distribution.
> What are conventional, vertical, and horizontal marketing systems?
> What factors are important in determining whether a manufacturer should choose a direct or indirect channel? Why do some firms use hybrid marketing systems?
> List and explain the types of independent and manufacturer-owned wholesaling Intermediaries.
> Assume that you are the head of PR for a regional fast-food chain that specializes in fried chicken and fish. A customer has claimed that he became sick when he ate a fried roach that was in his chicken dinner at one of your restaurants. As the director
> Explain the functions of distribution channels.
> What is a channel of distribution? What are channel intermediaries?
> What is inventory control, and why is it important?
> What is a supply chain, and how is it different from a channel of distribution?
> Given this particular example, what are some things the manufacturer might work on to bring the overall perfect order measurement higher? What would be the advantages to the firm of investing in making this already good number even better for customers?
> Is a zero error rate realistic? How close should a firm be expected to come to zero errors? How do you suggest motivating employees toward reducing these errors?
> Do you think the firm should be satisfied with this level of performance? Why or why not? What particular areas need attention, if any?
> As a soon-to-be college graduate, you be will be looking for a full-time job in your field. As part of this process, you will need to learn to successfully market yourself. Prepare an outline for your marketing plan. First, list the special problems and
> Because of increased competition in its community, you have been hired as a marketing consultant by a local restaurant. You know that the characteristics of services (intangibility, perishability, variability, and inseparability) create unique marketing
> Address the same issues in item 12-22 for a marketing plan for the town or city where your college is located. How would you market this town or city and the surrounding area as part of the overall college experience to potential students?
> Think of the last time you interacted with a salesperson, whether it was for a new tablet computer or a trendy pair of jeans. Identify the type of salesperson you were interacting with and explain what this person did to fulfill that particular role. Als
> Music, video, or textbook downloading (even when done clandestinely) is just a way to create a more efficient supply chain because it “cuts out the middleman” (e.g., stores that sell music, video, and books). Do you agree? Why or why not?
> Many not-for-profit and religious organizations have found that they can be more successful by marketing their ideas. What are some ways that these organizations market themselves that are similar to and different from the marketing by for-profit busines
> There has been a lot of criticism about the way politicians have been marketed in recent years. What are some of the ways marketing has helped our political process? What are some ways the marketing of politicians might have an adverse effect on our gove
> Disintermediation is becoming more commonplace in the service industry, often eliminating a customer’s interaction with, for example, bank tellers or supermarket clerks. How does this lack of interaction affect the customer’s experience? How does this la
> What are some possible effects of B2C e-commerce on traditional retailing?
> Your company has developed a new high-end hand cream, designed to noticeably soften hands and reduce the appearance of age spots and scars when used daily. Using the hierarchy of effects, develop communications objectives for your product for consumers w
> Assume that you are a member of the marketing department for a firm that produces several brands of snack foods. Your assignment is to develop recommendations for consumer and trade sales promotion activities for a new low-fat, low calorie, high protein
> What dimensions do consumers and business customers use to evaluate service quality? How should marketers respond to failures in service quality?
> Recently, Twitter has joined other Internet sites in selling preferred positions on the site to generate revenue. Do you feel that such revenue-generating activities make sites such as Twitter less attractive? If you know that the top comments on a site
> What is a service? What are the important characteristics of services that make them different from goods?
> What are intangibles? How do basic marketing concepts apply to the marketing of intangibles?
> What is B2C e-commerce? What are some benefits of B2C e-commerce for consumers and for marketers? What are the limitations of B2C e-commerce?
> Explain the different types of direct selling. What is the difference between a multilevel network and a pyramid scheme?
> Describe the differences in merchandise assortments for convenience stores, supermarkets, box stores, specialty stores, category killers, leased departments, variety stores, general merchandise discount stores, off-price retailers, warehouse clubs, facto
> How do marketers classify retail stores? Explain merchandise breadth and depth.
> Explain retail store shrinkage and the ways shrinkage normally occurs. What is “sweethearting”? What is retail borrowing? What are some of the ethical issues in retailers’ treatment of consumers?
> What is beacon marketing? What are digital wallets?
> Describe experiential merchandising, destination retailing and Omni channel marketing.
> How does the wheel-of-retailing theory explain the evolution of retailing? How do the economic environment, demographics, technology, and globalization affect the future of retailing?
> Just because you're the biggest contender, doesn't mean you'll win every fight. Burger King as the “little guy" compared to market leader McDonald's has established an appealing reputation through social media marketing. In 1954, James Mclamore and David
> Provide examples of resources that are temporarily restricted as to: (a) purpose, (b) time, and (c) the occurrence of a specific event. Provide an example of permanently restricted resources.
> Parents Against Underage Drinking (PAUD) recently paid $50,000 to sponsor a series of commercials on a local television station. Each commercial is one minute in length. In the first 45 seconds, sports stars plead with teenagers to avoid peer pressure to
> Refer to the financial statements of the March of Dimes for 2013 presented in Table 12-8. 1. Did the organization exert a greater fiscal effort on fund-raising in 2013 than it did in 2012? 2. Did it direct more of its revenues toward mission-oriented pro
> Review the financial statements of the March of Dimes for 2013 as presented in Table 12-8. 1. Comment as best you can (even in the absence of guidelines as to what constitutes norms for comparable foundations) on the fiscal strength of the organization a
> The footnote in the financial statements of The Welfare foundation contain the following note titled “Promises to Give”: Unconditional promises to give were as follows at December 31: The discount rates used on long-t
> As the comptroller of a hospital, you were just informed that one of the surgeons failed to remove an instrument from a patient’s innards. The hospital is certain to be sued. How should this information affect the hospital’s financial statements?
> For each of the following situations, indicate whether the organization should recognize the described contributed services as revenue (offset by a corresponding expense). Briefly justify your response or identify key issues. 1. Nellie Wilson, the noted
> 1. Prepare journal entries to take into account the following events and transactions. a. In January 2017, the Wildlife Preservation Society received a grant from the Westwood Foundation of $6 million to be paid in three annual installments of $2 million
> Sea Life Aquarium, a not-for-profit entity, received a contribution of $500,000 that must be used to acquire plant and equipment. In the following year it applied the gift toward the purchase of various items of plant and equipment. Management estimates
> In December 2017, the Consumer Association of America (CAA), a not-for-profit research organization, received a $6 million grant from the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) to develop a football helmet that will provide better protection aga
> Which of the following do you think a city should classify as “special” items: a. The settlement of an age discrimination lawsuit b. The sale, at a sizable gain, of city‐owned land to a private developer c. The unreimbursed cost of providing housing and
> In 2017, the Northwest Ballet Association (NBA), a not-for-profit performing arts organization, undertook a major capital campaign to fund a new theater, expected to cost $10 million. It was quickly able to raise $6 million, all of which was donor restri
> The American Association for Freedom, a political think tank, was recently established. During its first year of operations it engaged in the following transactions and was affected by the following events (in summary form): 1. It received a $10,000,000
> A city established a public housing authority to fund the construction of low‐income residential homes within city limits. The authority is governed by a nine‐person board of trustees. New trustees are nominated by the board itself, but are formally appo
> Do the notes to the financial statements indicate the component units and other related entities that are included within the reporting entity? Do they indicate any units that are not included? Do they explain why these units are included or excluded?
> Distinguish between a defined benefit plan and a defined contribution plan. Why does a defined benefit plan present far more complex accounting issues than a defined contribution plan?
> What is meant by “retrospective” insurance premiums, and how should they be reported?
> The Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office maintains a fund to which it transfers the phone company commissions it earns on inmates’ pay-phone calls. The monies collected are used to provide inmate “amenities”—books and magazines, writing paper, postage stam
> Many states have established “college tuition” programs that enable parents to accumulate funds to pay for their children’s college education. The plans vary from state to state but typically they have features that protect against the rising costs of tu
> As the accountant for Sunlight City, you determine the following with respect to the city’s pensions in a particular year. Service cost………………………………………………………… $356,000 Interest on total pension liability…………………….……... 400,000 Actual earnings on pension pl
> A school district prepares its budget on a cash basis. It is contemplating the changes or actions that follow. For each, indicate the impact that the change would have (1) on year‐ending June 30 2017, general fund expenditures or transfers and (2) on y
> Does the government maintain any fiduciary funds? If so, for what purposes?
> Does the government maintain any permanent funds? If so, are they major or nonmajor funds and for what purposes?
> In what way must a government account for premium revenue differently if it accounts for self-insurance in an internal service fund rather than in its general fund?
> What is a service concession arrangement? Why do governments enter in to these agreements?
> It is often said that “self-insurance” is an oxymoron. Why? If it is, what are the implications for a government that is permitted to recognize self-insurance premiums as a general fund expenditure when paid to an internal service fund?
> It is sometimes asserted that the absence of specific principles as to what constitutes “cost” detracts from the objectivity of the financial statements of not only internal service funds but also financial statements of the general fund. In what sense m
> For what types of activities are internal service funds used to account? Provide several examples. Is a government required to account for the activities you cite in an internal service fund, or may it account for them instead in its general fund?
> Hospitals and other health care organizations provide services knowing that they will collect from third-party payers, such as insurance companies, considerably less than their established billing rates. In addition, they provide services to uninsured pa
> A government accounts for a municipal landfill in an enterprise fund. How will it determine how much to charge as an expense (and add to a liability) each year that the landfill is in use? Suppose instead that it accounts for the landfill in a government
> Although proprietary fund accounting is similar to business accounting, there are considerable differences in standards pertaining to the statement of cash flows. What are the main differences?
> What are the major differences in expenditures/expenses (i.e., reconciling items) as they are reported in the governmental fund and the government‐wide statements?
> How would you compare the accounting for enterprise funds with that of (a) businesses and (b) governmental funds? Summarize the reasons both for and against accounting for enterprise funds differently than governmental funds.
> You are the independent CPA for a medium-sized city. The city manager asks your guidance as to whether, according to generally accepted accounting principles, the municipal golf course should be accounted for in an enterprise fund. What would be your res
> The City of Lewisville collected $600,000 in tap fees last year. Of this amount, $400,000 covered the direct costs of connecting customers to the city’s water lines. The balance contributed to improvements in and maintenance of the overall water system.
> Do you think the current criteria for establishing enterprise funds are adequate? For example, are they too flexible in that governments may account for a wide range of activities in enterprise funds? Or are they too rigid in that governments must accoun
> The Green Hills Water District was established on January 1 to provide water service to a suburban development. It accounts for its operations in a single enterprise fund. During the year it engaged in the following transactions: 1. It issued $6,000,000
> Pearl City leases an emergency communications system. The term of the lease is 10 years, approximately the useful life of the equipment. Based on a sales price of $800,000 and an interest rate of 6 percent, the city agrees to make annual payments of $108
> The following transactions affected a city’s general fund. Prepare a table in which you indicate for each transaction the expenditure/expense and change in liabilities that the city would report in its (a) general fund, and (b) government-wide statemen
> In anticipation of issuing of long-term bonds, a state issues on May 1, 2018, $200 million of 60-day BANs to finance highway construction. It expects to roll over the BANs into long-term bonds within 60 days. Its fiscal year ends on May 31. The state iss
> What is the difference between restricted assets and assets limited as to use?
> The City of Fairfield issued $100 million of 20-year, 6 percent coupon bonds (3 percent per semiannual period) for $89.32 million. The price reflected a yield of 7 percent (3.5 percent period semiannual period). 1. Prepare entries to reflect how the foll
> What was the city’s largest expenditure for fiscal year 2014? By how much did this increase or decrease since FY 2013? Since FY 2008 (see statistical section)? Can you draw any inferences from this comparison as to the efficiency and effectiveness of the
> The Alpine school district engaged in the following transactions in its fiscal year ending August 31, 2018. By law, the district is required to establish a capital projects fund to account for school construction projects and a debt service fund to accou
> Select the best answer. 1. A town signs a 10-year capital lease by which it acquires equipment with a market value of $1 million. The lease incorporates an implicit interest rate of 8 percent per year. Accordingly, annual lease payments are $149,029. Wh
> Select the best answer. 1. Which of the following is true with respect to bankruptcy? a. Per the federal bankruptcy code, a municipality can be declared bankrupt but not insolvent. b. Many major cities have avoided bankruptcy by being placed under the c
> Search online for the CAFR of the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. What is the total loan guarantees for the Community Development Block Grant disclosed in the notes? How does this compare to the city’s outstanding general obligation bonds?
> A city funds the construction of a golf course by issuing $50 million in general obligation bonds. However, it accounts for the golf course in an enterprise fund, and it intends to repay the debt from green fees. Should the city, in its government-wide s
> What distinguishes moral obligation bonds from other types of debt? Why would one government assume a moral obligation for another government’s bonds?
> What is conduit debt? Who issues debt through these conduits? Why are governments required to report it only in notes to their financial statements, not on their balance sheets?
> What is overlapping debt, and why is it of significance to financial analysts and other users of a government’s financial statements?
> What are BANs, RANs, and TANs? Why are they accounted for differently?
> What are “capitation fees,” and how should they be accounted for?
> Antonio County is assessing whether it should build a new correctional facility for nonviolent offenders. Currently offenders are housed in the county jail at a cost per inmate of approximately $52,000 per year. The new facility would cost $4 million to
> If, under GAAP, capital leases are considered long-term obligations, why, in many jurisdictions, are they not subject to debt limitations?
> What are demand bonds? When can they be reported as long-term, rather than current, obligations?
> A government’s interest expenditure, as reported in its debt service fund, differs significantly from its interest expense, as reported in its government-wide statements. What is the most likely explanation for the difference?
> At what value would a government report bonds payable on its government-wide statements? Why might this value differ from the bonds’ face value? Why might it differ from their market value?
> What is the distinction between general obligation debt and revenue debt? Which one is likely to bear higher interest rates?
> What unique issues arise when a government, as opposed to a business, is declared bankrupt?
> Suppose that a city has in its portfolio debt securities that it intends to hold to maturity. Interest rates increase. Therefore the market value of the securities decreases, and accordingly the city, must recognize an investment loss. Correspondingly, t
> Zeff Township assessed property owners $1,000,000 to construct sidewalks. The assessments were payable over a period of 10 years in annual installments of $123,290, an amount that reflects interest at a rate of 4 percent. To fund the improvements, the ci
> This problem is based on a recent annual report of the City of Tucson. Dates have been changed. 1. The MD&A reports that the city’s general obligation bonds were rated AA—by Standard & Poor’s. What is the significance of an AA—rating? (Standard & Poor’s
> The following was taken from the statistical section of the City of Wyoming, Michigan’s annual report Computation of Legal Debt Margin for General Obligation Bonds as of June 30 Assessed value, estimate………………………………………………………. $1,934,971,000 Debt limit—10
