Question: The Wall Street Journal reported that an

> The following quote refers to the problems of Campeau Corporation, a Canadian-based retail empire that later was dissolved through bankruptcy. At the time of the quote, Campeau's department store chains included many of the top upscale retailers in the i

> Lifschultz Fast Freight, which collapsed a few years ago when its owner died, once reported a book value of less than zero (i.e., reported liabilities exceeded reported assets). Yet the company's share price skyrocketed on news that it was pursuing a ma

> Several years ago in its annual report, Philip Morris Companies, a major manufacturer of tobacco and food products, included footnote 16, which was almost five pages long. It consisted of a number of separate sections covering such topics as an overview

> The following excerpts were taken from the annual reports of a variety of companies: 1. The company’s reporting period ends on the Saturday closest to January 31 (The Limited). 2. The consolidated financial statements include the accoun

> The 2019 annual report for HCA Inc., a nationwide chain of hospitals, contains the following statement in the footnotes to the financial statements: Reserves for professional liability risks were $ 1.827 billion and $1.741 billion at December 31, 2019 an

> United Airlines Holdings discloses two accounts on its financial statements entitled "Advanced ticket sales" and "Frequent flyer deferred revenue" with 2019 balances of $4.8 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively. INSTRUCTIONS: a. On what financial state

> You can review the Disney SEC Form 10-K by searching for "Disney Annual Report" online, and answer the following questions: a. What is working capital, and what is the trend in Disney's working capital position in recent years? b. How much did working ca

> The 2019 IFRS-based balance sheet published by Volkswagen AG, the well-known German automaker, listed an account called "provisions" (divided into current and noncurrent categories) with a total balance (in million euros) of 46,217 (2019) and 44,754 (201

> The Internet phone company Vonage Holdings faced two separate patent infringement lawsuits initiated by Verizon and Sprint Nextel due to the technology used to provide Web-based communication services for its customers. The threat to Vonage's viability w

> General Motors once posted net income of $552 million, compared with a loss of $112.9 million a year earlier. Over $200 million of the profit was due to an accounting adjustment in its North American operations because its marginal tax rates turned out t

> The following information was taken from the 2019 annual report of Emerson, a leader in process management, technology, network power, and industrial automation (dollars in millions): INSTRUCTIONS: Comment on whether Emerson's financial accounting method

> A major defense contractor, LTV, faced with huge liabilities, once declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Under Chapter 11, a company continues to operate but is protected from creditors while it tries to work out a reorganization plan. At that time,

> FedEx Corporation, a world leader in express mail services, reported the following in its May 31, 2019, financial statements (dollars in millions): The company's long-term debt contains restrictive covenants that require the maintenance of certain financ

> A few years ago, Kellogg, a maker of cereals and foods, hit its targeted earnings-per-share growth of 11 percent, and its stock price was up 25 percent. In the fourth quarter of that year, the company took a significant "one-time" charge against earnings

> The statement of cash flow for Facebook contained the following numbers ( dollars in millions): a. Explain how profit could decrease while cash from operations increased over the same time period. b. Analyze Facebook's cash management activities in 2018

> Tracy Sellers, a retired musical artist, and his two brothers own a substantial amount of outstanding common stock of Avery Corporation, a young and fast-growing manufacturer of cartons, containers, and a wide variety of packaging materials. The company&

> U.S. accounting standards at one time contained a requirement that certain large companies disclose current fair market values for inventories and property, plant, and equipment assets. Such disclosure included dollar amounts for cost of goods sold and d

> After being asked how General Electric has maintained such consistent earnings growth over the past decade, Dennis Dammerman, the company's chief financial officer, said, "We're the best company in the world." However, the Wall Street Journal offered ano

> The footnotes to the 2019 financial statements of McDonald's Corporation contain the following statement: Long-lived assets are reviewed for impairment annually ... and ... if an individual restaurant is determined to be impaired, the loss is measured by

> The Wall Street Journal once reported that hospitals plan to boost the amount of money spent on new property, plant, and equipment to meet increased demand from the aging demographics of the United States. The article stated that the increased capital sp

> The 2019 annual report of Cisco Systems discloses that the company expenses all advertising and research and development costs, while capitalizing all software development costs. INSTRUCTIONS: Describe the effect of these two accounting treatments on the

> Steel manufacturer V &M Star announced in early 20 IO that it would spend $650 million to expand its Youngstown, Ohio, plant. The company indicated that funding from the federal government's stimulus bill, passed in response to the 2008-2009 recession, p

> You can review the Disney SEC Form 10-K by searching for "Disney Annual Report" online. INSTRUCTIONS: Review the 2019 (9/28/2019) Disney SEC Form 10-K, and answer the following questions: a. What percentage of total assets do property, plant, and equipme

> When Burlington Northern released first-quarter earnings below those of the same period for the prior year, management explained the reasons behind the shortfall. While revenues increased, mainly due to higher prices, earnings were down due to increased

> Seattle Film Works capitalizes the costs of its direct mailings to prospective customers, expensing them over three years rather than in the year they're incurred. There's nothing wrong with this practice per se. If the customers gained by these mailings

> The following information was taken from the 2019 statements of cash flow for Agilent Technologies and Advanced Micro Devices (dollars in millions): a. Compute the change in cash for both companies. b. Describe the cash management profile for each compan

> Grocery giant Kroger discloses inventory in the following manner on the balance sheet itself (dollars in millions). Rival grocer Albertsons' s, on the other hand, disclosed information about its LIFO and FIFO values in a footnote to its 2019 financial st

> The 2019 statement of cash flows for Macy's reports (dollars in millions) net cash from operating activities of $1,735 (2019), $1,976 (2018), and $1,801 (2017). Included on the statement of cash flows (indirect method) in the computation of net cash from

> When it released its first-quarter earnings, FedEx Corporation also projected that its shipping volume would be lighter and that its profit growth would be the lowest in years. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, FedEx cited the fact that many compan

> The 2019 annual report of Sherwin Williams, a manufacturer of paint products, contained the following footnote (dollars in millions): Note 5-/inventories Inventories were stated at the lower of cost or net realizable value with cost primarily determined

> When the Wall Street Journal reported that "Chevron Corporation took a charge of $1.96 billion", it noted that the charge was related to lower prices for crude oil and refined products. The article explained that the write down served "to reduce the carr

> TII Industries makes over-voltage protectors, power systems, and electronic products primarily for use in the communications industry. Several years ago, the company reported that it took "a substantial inventory write-down," resulting in a loss for its

> In the early 1980s, an oil glut caused Texaco, a LIFO user, to delay drilling, which cut its oil inventory levels by 16 percent. The LIFO cushion (i.e., the difference between LIFO and FIFO inventory values) that was built into those barrels over the yea

> Harley-Davidson manufactures motorcycles and accessories. Financial information from the 2019 annual report is excerpted as follows: Balance Sheet Information: Inventories, net (in thousands): Inventory obsolescence reserves deducted from FIFO cost were

> You can review the Disney SEC Form 10-K by searching for "Disney Annual Report" online. Review it and answer the following questions: INSTRUCTIONS: a. How large is inventory compared to the other assets on Disney's balance sheet? Did inventory increase,

> The Japanese firm Sony prepares its financial statements using U.S. GAAP. Two items related to its inventory appeared in the operating section of a recent statement of cash flows, both in millions of yen: loss on impairment of assets (38,308) and change

> Pier 1 Imports reported cost of sales of $1.1 billion for fiscal 2019. Inventory increased during the year from $347.4 million to $347.6 million, and accounts payable (related to inventory purchases) increased from $71.3 million to $122.0 million. a. Est

> ExxonMobil, a multinational integrated oil and gas company, reported the following information in its 2019 annual report: Due to slackening global demand for crude oil, as well production disputes between two large oil-producing countries (Saudi Arabia a

> Amazon.com described its inventory policies in the 2019 annual report as follows: Inventories Inventories, consisting of products available for sale, are primarily accounted for using the first-in, first out method, and are valued at the lower of cost an

> Target Corp. is a major U.S. retailer that historically has carried inventory balances in excess of 15 percent of its total assets, and in a typical year the cost of its sold inventory approximates 70 percent of total sales. In the calculation of cash fl

> A partner from a major accounting firm made the following comment when asked about the accounting methods used by companies in the software industry: "Accounting policies that have adverse short-term effects on financial statements cannot help the indust

> Forbes noted that "Fairfield Company does set aside a reserve for bad debts, but last year it began tinkering with its provision for loan losses, reducing it from $6.5 million in one year to $5.39 million the next. It may not sound like much, but the res

> The following quote was taken from the 2019 annual report of HP, Inc. HP sells a significant portion of its products through third-party distributors and resellers and, as a result, maintains individually significant receivable balances with these partie

> A few years ago, Par Pharmaceuticals announced that it would restate financial results for the first quarter of the current year and for the past two years due to an understatement of the allowance for uncollectibles for accounts receivable. The understa

> Excerpts from the operating sections of the 2019 statement of cash flows for AT&T and Toyota are provided below. AT&T publishes U.S. GAAP-based financial statements in U.S. dollars, and Toyota publishes IFRS-based financial statements in Japanese

> Publicly traded companies release financial statements (unaudited) on a quarterly basis. For one particular quarter, MarketWatch reported that Bank of America (B of A) and Wells Fargo had improved their results over the same period in the previous year b

> Pier 1 Imports reported retail sales for fiscal 2019 of $1.6 billion. During the year, accounts receivable decreased from $22.2 million to $21.2 million. Estimate the cash collected by Pier 1 from its customers during 2019.

> The footnotes to the 2019 financial statements of Citigroup, the holding company for Citibank, contained the following information (dollars in millions). "Provision for credit losses" refers to bad debt expense and "credit losses" refers to receivable wr

> You can review the Disney SEC Form 10-K by searching for "Disney Annual Report" online. INSTRUCTIONS: Review the 2019 SEC 10-K Form for Disney, and answer the following questions: a. Compute the change in Disney's current ratio and working capital from 2

> An article in Forbes noted that "accounting rules . .. can often change the way companies do business." Under the accounting rule covering receivables and payables denominated in foreign currencies, for example, "it is very important for companies to mon

> In a press release discussing third-quarter financial results, the construction management and consulting firm Hill International specifically cited an increase in bad debt expense as a drag on otherwise improved operating profits. Hill provides its serv

> Apple, Inc., reported the following in its 2019 financial statements (amounts in millions): Note 2 Restricted Cash The company's restricted cash consists primarily of cash required to be on deposit under a contract agreement with a bank to support the co

> An accounting professor at the University of California at Berkeley was once quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying, The most important items on the financial statements are trends in inventory, accounts receivable, and order backlogs. These are the

> Billionaire investor Warren Buffett was once quoted in the Financial Post as saying, "The reaction of weak management to weak operations is often weak accounting." INSTRUCTIONS: What does he mean? Provide some examples. What are the implications for fina

> Baruch Lev, a well-respected accounting professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, has commented about the lack of relevance in today's financial statements. He notes that the 500 largest companies in the United States have market-to-bo

> In an article published in the Journal of Accountancy, James Deitrick and Walter Harrison noted that the major markets for common stocks (e.g., the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange) have been found to be efficient. That is, "common st

> The 2019 statement of cash flows for technology company Hewlett-Packard reported a net profit of $3.2 billion and net cash provided by operating activities of $4.7 billion. Depreciation and amortization totaled $0. 7 billion. HP used the indirect form of

> Fortune ran an article on Bob Olstein, an investment analyst who was particularly bullish at the time on several well-known stocks. He said the following indicators were the keys to his success: (I) a Issues for Discussion 223 recent dramatic drop in the

> Burger chain Shake Shack announced third-quarter 2019 earnings of $10.3 million, on revenues that were over 31 percent higher than those of the same period in the prior year. Earnings per share ( +$0.26) beat the consensus analyst forecast of $0.2 1. Rev

> Morningstar, a firm that evaluates and rates mutual fund performance, published an article on its website discussing a company's book value per share (shareholders' equity/number of shares outstanding) versus its market price per share. Morningstar claim

> Financial profiles, expressing the dollar value of financial statement accounts as a percentage of total assets (for balance sheet accounts) and sales (for income statement accounts), are listed from recent financial statements for four well-known compan

> You can review the Disney SEC Form 10-K by searching for "Disney Annual Report" online. INSTRUCTIONS: a. Review the Disney 2019 SEC Form 10-K and analyze the financial statements by assessing Disney's financial performance and position. Provide support f

> South Korea- based consumer electronics giant Samsung was accused by analysts of aggressively writing off some assets in the first quarter of 2019 to minimize its profits. Korea News Plus reported that the company engaged in "big bath" accounting (taking

> The pandemic referred to as COVID-19 rocked the whole globe in the spring of 2020. For months at a time, governments issued advisories to practice social distancing by staying at home unless you were involved in an essential activity, such as shopping or

> The operating profits from 2017 to 2019 reported by each of Johnson & Johnson's primary business segments are provided below. Sales numbers for each of the segments are provided in ID5.14 ( dollars in millions). INSTRUCTIONS: a. During 2019, which of

> The following sales information concerning Johnson & Johnson's primary business segments appeared in the company's 2019 SEC Form 10-K (dollars in millions). INSTRUCTIONS: a. Which of the three primary business segments is the largest, and which of th

> Cash flow profiles over a three-year period are provided here from recent financial statements for three well-known companies: Echostar Communications, Walmart, and US Airways (now part of American Airlines). INSTRUCTIONS: Link each profile to one of the

> In the shareholders' equity section of its 2018 and 2019 balance sheets, H&R Block reported accumulated other comprehensive income balances of $(14.3) million and $(20.4) million, respectively. The 2019 income statement reported net income of $423 millio

> The following pages contain the consolidated balance sheets and statements of income and cash flows taken from the 2019 annual report of the retail powerhouse Amazon. INSTRUCTIONS: Analyze the statements by using the ROE model, and identify the factors d

> Many companies selling stock to the public for the first time-initial public offerings (IPOs)-are not yet profitable. According to a report issued by the research firm Sageworks, almost half of the companies listing IPOs are not yet profitable. Amazon is

> The business press follows the movement of stock prices very closely, especially when companies post their earnings announcements. Interestingly, there is no set pattern for how stock prices react to earnings announcements. Sometimes companies report ear

> Financial profiles, expressing the dollar value of financial statement accounts as a percentage of total assets (for balance sheet accounts) and sales (for income statement accounts), are listed from recent financial statements for four well-known compan

> The Wall Started Journal reported that analysts are worried about companies borrowing money to pay dividends and to repurchase outstanding shares of stock. Aircraft parts manufacturer TransDigm Group borrowed $360 million to pay dividends, wh

> The military’s money managers last year made almost $7 trillion in adjustments to their financial ledgers in an attempt to make them add up, the Pentagon’s inspector general said in a report released yesterday. The Pentagon could not show receipts of $2.

> Munich-based automaker BMW switched how it classified certain expenses to match what it anticipates to be the format approved by International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Period, BMW classified these expenses as part of operating profit, and no

> Herbert S. Bailey, Jr., published the following poem in Publishers Weekly (Jan. 13, 1975), calling to mind Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem The Raven . Though my bottom line is black, I am flat upon my back. My cash flows out and customers pay slow. The gro

> In “Behind the Wave of Corporate Fraud: A Change in How Auditors Work,” the Wall Street Journal detailed several of the recent accounting scandals and the techniques management used to deceive both the auditors and the investing public. The article focus

> The W.T. Grant Company was the nation’s largest retailer until it filed for bankruptcy only one year after it had reported profits of over $20 million for more than ten con6ecuiive years. Yet cash flow provided by operations had started dipping several y

> Refer to the Merck income statement presented at the very beginning of the chapter, and note that the company reported growing profits of $2.4 billion, $6.2 billion, and $9.8 billion in 2017, 2018, and 2019, respectively. Restructuring charges were signi

> In the late 1990s, the Internet explosion sent the share values of well-known Internet companies soaring. Many of these companies took advantage of the high prices by making major share issuances and using the funds as their major source of financing. Ly

> When Campbell Soup purchased the European culinary business from Unilever, the acquisition was funded with available cash and a short-term notes payable. The $920 million purchase 6. Paid suppliers $870,000 for payment of open accounts payable. 7. Sold

> You can review the Disney 2019 SEC Form 10-K by searching for “Disney Annual Report” online. INSTRUCTIONS: Review the Disney Form 10-K, and answer the following questions. a. In terms of the basic accounting equation, explain how Disney accounts for prep

> When Volkswagen AG admitted several years ago that it deceived regulators by rigging exhaust emission results, the company booked a 6.7 billion euro accrued liability to cover future cash payments related to the crisis. Provide the journal entry recorded

> According to The Internal Auditor: In the past, credible financial reports could be produced, audited, and published only on n periodic basis, because the information needed to generate such reports was either impossible too costly to obtain on a

> When Nike completed the acquisition of 100 percent of the common shares of Umbra, it was a leading United Kingdom—based global soccer brand. The acquisition price was approximately $576 million. Umbra prepares its financial statements under IFRS, and the

> When MCI Communications Corporation (now part of Verizon Communications) purchased Satellite Business Systems (SBS) from International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), it issued common stock to IBM, valued at $376 million, and signed a note payable f

> You can review the Disney SEC Form 10-K by searching for “Disney Annual Report” online. INSTRUCTI08S: Review the 2019 SEC Form 10-K of Disney and answer the following questions: a. Briefly describe the operations of Disney and indicate whether it is a ma

> Distinguish managerial accounting from financial accounting and describe how the information provided by the two systems is used differently.

> The SEC accepts IFRS financial statements from non-U.S. companies, while requiring U.S. GAAP from U.S. companies. Comment on the difficulties faced by financial analysts who analyze financial statements to assess the financial condition and performance o

> When Anheuser-Busch Company recognized a $160 million charge on its income statement for the closure of Tampa Breweries, it consisted of a write-down of plant assets of $113.7 million, employee severance costs of $19.4 million, and other disposal costs o

> Based on a survey conducted by two accounting professors, the Wall Street Journal reported that a number of high-level corporate managers indicated that they would choose investments that would boost current net income to meet the expectations of analyst

> In a report to its clients on the implications of the Sarbanes—Oxley Act of 2002, KPMG states that the act is intended to expand corporate governance, increase public confidence in financial reporting information, and strengthen our capital market system

> The following quote was taken directly from the audit report written by PwC on the 2019 financial statements of Kroger. We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of The Kroger Co. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of February 2,

> Fortune magazine ran an article titled “New Ethics or No Ethics? Questionable Behavior Is Silicon Valley’s Next Big Thing,” which recounts stories of Internet companies that aggressively inflate their net income. In many cases, the actions of these compa

> United Continental Holdings, the parent of United Airlines and Continental Airlines, signed contracts with its major creditors (mostly banks) that require the company to maintain a minimum cash balance of $3.0 billion and a minimum ratio of cash flow to

> In late 2009, General Electric, Vivendi SA, and the cable television company Comcast entered into a complicated transaction to change the ownership of the television and production company NBC Universal. Prior to the transaction, GE owned 80 percent of N

> The huff Street Journal once reported, “For as long as companies have published cash-flow statements, investors have used them to gauge the credibility of earnings. The most closely watched portion of these reports is the part called cash flow from opera

> The following information was taken from the 2019 annual report—statements of cash flows—of United Technologies Corporation (UTC), a diversified manufacturing conglomerate (dollars in millions). INSTRUCTIONS: What does

> The following information was taken from the 2019 annual reports—statements of cash flow f TJ Maxx, Pier One, and Pepsico (dollars in millions). INSTRUCTIONS: Each of these companies shows a different cash flow pattern. Explain what the

> The following excerpt was taken from a financial report of Cummins Engine Company, a manufacturer of heavy-duty truck engines. Loan agreements contain covenants that impose restrictions on the payment of dividends and distributions of stock, require main