BUSI570 ADE Week 8 Discussion

Share with the class the topics covered in this course that you found most interesting and useful to you in your professional and/or personal life. What topics did you find particularly challenging?

 

BUSI570 ADE Week 7 Firm Financial Analysis Project Part IV,V

Firm Financial Analysis Project: Parts IV-V

Due Sunday by 11:59 pm CT

Part IV: Determination of WACC (due Week 7)

Using the principles and tools outlined in the textbook, form an estimate of the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) for the firm. In order to complete this task, you will need to do the following:

• Determine the cost of debt: Using information from the firm's website, annual report, the website Investing in Bonds (link available in the Content area), and the library database sources, determine the 'average' rating of your firm's bonds and the current YTM on a composite of these bonds. Based on this information, estimate the current cost of debt for the firm. Explain the approach and procedure you used to make your determination and what this number means.
• Determine the cost of equity: Determine the required rate of return for your firm using the CAPM. Explain the approach and procedure you used (and justification for the sources of inputs used for your model) to make your determination and the meaning of this required rate of return.
• Determine the capital structure of the firm: Determine the market value of the firm's debt and equity. Explain the approach and procedure you used and use these values to determine the weights for the WACC.

Finally, provide an overall explanation for your results and how the firm will use this WACC. There are resources available in the Content area that will help guide your determination of WACC.

Part IV will be worth 80 points.

Part V: Stock Valuation (due Week 7)

In chapter 9, we learned how the dividend-discount model can be used to determine the value of a firm's equity, or the current price of a share of stock. Use this model to estimate the value of a share of your firm's stock and compare this estimate to the current market value. To do this, you will need to do the following:

1. Estimate the firm's stock price using the dividend-discount model: Use an investment source (some have been provided in the Content area) and find: 1) the current dividend; 2) analyst's estimate growth rate for the next five to ten years; 3) an alternative growth estimate using the firm's historical growth rate or the formula "g=ROE x b".
2. Use your estimate of the cost of equity in the WACC for the rE part of your formula: Combine the above information into the dividend-discount model (DDM).
3. Compare your result to the current market price of your firm's stock. Provide analysis and an explanation of how they compare and explain any differences you observe.

Part V will be worth 50 points.

 

BUSI570 ADE Week 7 Discussion

Chapter 17 discusses the Payout Policy of firms. As the chapter describes, the payout decision is very complex and involves more than just how much of earnings should be paid out. Further, there are a number of alternatives to dividends.

For the firm you are analyzing for your course project, assess the firm's payout policy in all of its complexities. That is, address the following questions:

1. Does the firm pay dividends? If so, discuss the payout rate. How has it changed over time?
2. Does the firm pay dividends in any other form--e.g.,share repurchase? How does the firm balance this with its traditional dividend payout? How has this policy changed over time?
3. Assess the growth of the firm in terms of its amount of total assets. Where have funds for growth come from? How does this relate to the firm's payout policy?

 

BUSI544 Week 7 Marketing Plan - Final - Indian Restaurant

Instructions
The finished complete version of your marketing plan is due due Sunday by 11:59 pm CT this week. It should include all sections of the Marketing Plan Report Template, including the appendices and references.

Marketing Plan Report Format

·         Cover Page: Must include the name of the business, your name, the course number and date submitted.

·         Legal Page:Template is provided at the end of this document; fill in blanks and instructor will sign to ensure confidentiality.

·         Table of Contents:Must include a complete listing of all report sections and appendices, and appropriately aligned page numbers

·         Marketing Plan Content: Report must conform to the proper format. See outline below.

 

Marketing Plan Formatting

All MP submissions should conform to the following:

·         Writing Style: First person (you are writing this marketing plan as though you will be presenting it to management in the organization)

·         Font: Calibri, Arial, or Times New Roman; 12-point font size

·         Margins:1 inch left/right and top/bottom margins

·         Spacing

·         Single space the body of the report

·         Double Space (1 blank) between paragraphs

·         Triple Space (2 blank) between major headings and the first line of a new section

·         Headings

·         Major Headings: Bolded, underlined 14pt type and left justified

·         Secondary Headings: Bolded, underlined 12 pt type and left justified

·         A minimum of three lines of copy at the bottom and top of pages

·         Pagination

·         Upper or lower right hand corner or center bottom, including landscaped pages

·         Include page numbers of all appendices pages

·         APA style citations

QNT561 Week 4 Payment Time Case Study

Case Study – Payment Time Case Study

 

Major consulting firms such as Accenture, Ernst & Young Consulting, and Deloitte &Touche Consulting employ statistical analysis to assess the effectiveness of the systems they design for their customers. In this case, a consulting firm has developed an electronic billing system for a Stockton, CA, trucking company. The system sends invoices electronically to each customer's computer and allows customers to easily check and correct errors. It is hoped the new billing system will substantially reduce the amount of time it takes customers to make payments. Typical payment times—measured from the date on an invoice to the date payment is received—using the trucking company's old billing system had been 39 days or more. This exceeded the industry standard payment time of 30 days.

 

The new billing system does not automatically compute the payment time for each invoice because there is no continuing need for this information. The management consulting firm believes the new system will reduce the mean bill payment time by more than 50 percent. The mean payment time using the old billing system was approximately equal to, but no less than, 39 days. Therefore, if µ denotes the new mean payment time, the consulting firm believes that µ will be less than 19.5 days. Therefore, to assess the system's effectiveness (whether µ < 19.5 days), the consulting firm selects a random sample of 65 invoices from the 7,823 invoices processed during the first three months of the new system's operation. Whereas this is the first time the consulting company has installed an electronic billing system in a trucking company, the firm has installed electronic billing systems in other types of companies.

 

Analysis of results from these other companies show, although the population mean payment time varies from company to company, the population standard deviation of payment times is the same for different companies and equals 4.2 days. The payment times for the 65 sample invoices are manually determined and are given in the Excel^® spreadsheet named "The Payment Time Case". If this sample can be used to establish that new billing system substantially reduces payment times, the consulting firm plans to market the system to other trucking firms.

 

Purpose of Assignment 

The purpose of the assignment is to develop students' abilities in using datasets to apply the concepts of sampling distributions and confidence intervals to make management decisions. 

Assignment Steps 

Resources: Microsoft Excel^®, The Payment Time Case Study, The Payment Time Case Data Set 

Review the Payment Time Case Study and Data Set. 

Develop a 700-word report including the following calculations and using the information to determine whether the new billing system has reduced the mean bill payment time:

• Assuming the standard deviation of the payment times for all payments is 4.2 days, construct a 95% confidence interval estimate to determine whether the new billing system was effective. State the interpretation of 95% confidence interval and state whether or not the billing system was effective.
• Using the 95% confidence interval, can we be 95% confident that µ ≤ 19.5 days?
• Using the 99% confidence interval, can we be 99% confident that µ ≤ 19.5 days?
• If the population mean payment time is 19.5 days, what is the probability of observing a sample mean payment time of 65 invoices less than or equal to 18.1077 days? 

Format your assignment consistent with APA format. 

 

MA 260 Module 7 Assignment Mini Case Study Part II

Assignment Instructions

Mini- Study Part II

Answer the questions below about your data adhering to the outlined criteria in complete sentences. Cite any outside sources that are used.

Item	Description
1	Treat your data just as you would one of the datasets from the homework. Be sure you include appropriate measures of central tendency and dispersion etc.
2	Construct a frequency distribution using 5 –8 classes.
3	Create 2 different but appropriate visual representations of your data (pie chart, bar graph, etc). You MUST use Excel to do this.
4	Complete the calculations for the 8 statistics you identified in your worksheet in week 3. You MUST use Excel to do this.
5	Write a brief paragraph describing the meaning or interpretation for EACH of the statistics. For example, if some of the statistics chosen were the mean, median and mode, which is the best measure?
6	Construct a 95% Confidence Interval to estimate the population mean/proportion in the claim.
7	Complete the calculations for the 8 statistics you identified in your What can you conclude from this result regarding the topic?
8	Write up the responses to these questions in an APA paper between 500-1,000 words.

 

MA610 Activity 2_06 Activity-Based Costing

Activity 2_06

Instructions

Activity-Based Costing (ABC) has been developed as a methodology for determining the cost of products and services. Activity-Based Management (ABM) has been developed as a basis for the use of financial information for managerial decision-making. This assignment introduced you to the basic concepts and applications of activity analysis and ABC. Utilize the knowledge base you gained from the Lecture and Research Update and your Required Readings to complete this activity.

Research at least two (2) articles that include a description of a company's design and implementation of an ABC system. Good sources include Strategic

Finance, Management Accounting Quarterly, and the Journal of Cost Management.

Then prepare a report on your findings. Your response should include the following.

1.      Company Name

2.      Company Industry

3.      Description of the ABC Application

4.      Assessment of the Benefits of the ABC System for the Company

5.      Discussion of the Implementation of an ABC Project

Your Activity responses should be both grammatically and mechanically correct and formatted in the same fashion as the Activity itself. If there is a Part A, your response should identify a Part A, etc. In addition, you must appropriately cite all resources used in your response and document them in a bibliography using APA style. (100 points) (A 4-page response is required.)

 

MA610 Managerial Accounting Activity 4

Part A

Complete Problem 8-44 (p. 341) on the Lucerne Chocolate Company. (A 1½-page response is required.)

Part B

Case 8-54 (pp. 346-347) is an application to assess your ability to work with flexible budgets. This case provides budgetary information about Hopkins Community Hospital, an outpatient clinic. This is a good example of the use of a flexible budget for analyzing performance at a service sector organization. Use the information in the narrative and the supporting schedules to answer the "Required" questions. (A 1½-page response is required.)

 

MA610 Managerial Accounting Activty 6

Lesson 6: Managerial Decision Making

Activity 6: Pricing & Costing (100 points)

Part A : For this activity, you need to complete Problems 5-56 (pp. 218) and 5-57 (pp. 218). First, however, you need to perform the following before completing the problems. (A 1-page answer is required.)
Part B: Complete text Problems 5-59 (pp. 219), 6-32 (pp. 252), and 6-56 (p. 261). Show all computations. (A 2-page response is required.)

MA610 Managerial Accounting Discussion Question 3-2

Lesson 3: Cost Management Systems – Part II

Go to La-Z-Boy's website() and click on the "Our Furniture Line" tab. Thenclick on the "Recliners" icon. Find and compare the characteristics (size and movement) andoptions (types and color of fabrics) available for the Artie, Atlas, and Baxter recliner models. Inaddition, think about how and where these products may be purchased.

 

a.What type of costing system do you think would work best for La-Z-Boy inmanufacturing recliners? Give three (3) reasons/rationales for using the type of systemyou chose.

b.Do you think that an activity-based costing system could be used for the La-Z-Boyrecliners? Why or why not?

 

MA610 Managerial Accounting Discussion Question 1-2

Lesson 1: Managerial Accounting Basics

a. Complete a solution set for Fundamental Assignment Material Exercise 3-A1, "Activity Analysis" only (p. 106).

 

b. Complete a solution set for Fundamental Assignment Material Exercise 3-A2, "Division of Mixed Costs into Variable and Fixed Components" (p. 106).

 

 

MA610 Managerial Accounting Discussion Question 1-1

Discussion Question 1_01

Instructions

Upon completion of the Required Readings, write a thorough, well-planned narrative answer to the following discussion question. Rely on your Required Readings and the Lecture and Research Update for specific information to answer the discussion question, but turn to your original thoughts when asked to apply, evaluate, analyze, or synthesize the information. Your Discussion Question responses should be both grammatically and mechanically correct and formatted in the same fashion as the questions themselves. If there is a Part A, your response should identify a Part A, etc. In addition, you must appropriately cite all resources used in your responses and document them in a bibliography using APA style.

Chapters 2 and 3 introduce you to basic cost behavior, cost-volume relationships, and ways to measure cost behavior. Based on these readings, perform the following. (25 points) (A 1½-page response is required.)

1. Complete a solution set for Fundamental Assignment Material - Exercise 2-A1, "Cost-Volume-Profits and Vending Machines" (p. 66). Be sure to show or explain how you arrive at each answer.
2. Complete the Cognitive Exercises 3-25, 3-26, 3-27, and 3-28 (p. 113).

 3-25 Mixed Costs And The Sales Force 

Wysocki Company Pays Its Sales Force A Fixed Salary Plus A 5 Commission On All Sales Explain Why Sales Force Costs Would Be Considered A Mixed Cost

 3-26 Committed and Discretionary fixed costs in manufacturing

Among the fixed cost of Howarthcompany are depreciation and research and development (R&D).  Using these two costs as examples, explain the difference between committed and discretionary fixed costs.

3-27 Cost Functions and Decision Making

Why is it important that decision makers in corporation know the cost function for producing the companies' products?

3-28 Statistical Analysis and Cost Functions

What advantages does using regression analysis have over the visual-fit method for determining costs functions?

MA610 Stand-Alone Project Case Study in Managerial Accounting

Instructions

Stand-Alone Project: Case Study in Managerial Accounting (250 points)

You should begin working on the Stand-Alone Project early in the course. Each assignment provides a benchmark for completing the Stand-Alone Project in a timely manner while working through the course. You will find this information in the "Stand-Alone Project Benchmark" section of each assignment.

Your Stand-Alone Project responses should be both grammatically and mechanically correct and formatted in the same fashion as the project itself. If there is a Part A, your response should identify a Part A, etc. In addition, you must appropriately cite all resources used in your response and document them in a bibliography using APA style.

Each assignment in this course focuses on a different concept in managerial accounting. These concepts apply whether a firm is involved in manufacturing, merchandising, or service, as well as non-profit organizations. The purpose of this project is to help you understand the use and application of the concepts covered in the course. You are being asked to study an actual firm and to report on its use of the concepts covered in this course. (250 points) (A 20-page response is required.)

Part A	Select a firm that is publicly traded. This ensures you can access the needed data and information from published financial disclosures and articles found in various business journals such as Strategic Finance, Management Accounting Quarterly, etc.
	Note: For large firms, you may want to study only a segment of the firm. If so, ensure that you break down company data for the segment chosen.
	Provide the following background information on the firm you selected. (25 points)
	1.	Firm Name
	2.	Description of the Industry in Which the Firm Operates
	3.	Type of Business or Segment of the Firm (manufacturing, merchandising, service, or non-profit organization)
	4.	General Description of the Firm's Operations, Organization, Products, and Markets
	Note: The rest of the report will deal with the concepts covered in this course. Following are concepts that should be discussed in your report. Although some discussion relating to each concept is expected, please feel free to place a greater emphasis on topics of special interest to you. You may also want to place an emphasis on an area of weakness that may result in corrective action by the firm.
	Conversely, for your benefit, you may want to explore in depth a topic in which the firm has a real strength. Your study may find areas in which the firm needs improvement. A "no" answer for many of the questions would indicate a weakness in the firm's systems. In those instances, you should make recommendations. Provide complete details of the recommendations that you make, including why the recommendation is being made and the benefits to be gained. Each of the following components of your report requires a minimum of two (2) pages. This allows flexibility for you to emphasize your areas of specific interest.
Part B	Cost Behavior and Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) (Lesson #1): Assess your firm's use of these tools. (45 points)
	1.	Does the firm break down their costs by behavior?
	2.	Do they determine their break-even point?
	3.	Do they use these concepts in the decision-making process? Do you have any recommendations to make?
Part C	ABC, Job Order, and Process Costing and Cost Allocations (Lesson #2): Describe the cost system used by your firm. (45 points)
	1.	If your firm is not using ABC costing, do you think that it is a good candidate to do so? Why or why not?
	2.	Do you have any recommendations to make?
Part D	Budgeting and Variance Analysis (Lesson #4): Describe the budgeting process used by your firm. (45 points)
	1.	Does the process follow the responsibility concept?
	2.	Can you ascertain how employees view the process?
	3.	Is a flexible budget concept used? Do you have any recommendations to make?
Part E	Cost, Profit, and Investment Center (Lesson #5) (45 points)
	1.	Is decision making centralized or decentralized?
	2.	How is performance evaluated?
	3.	Does the firm follow the decision-making and evaluation concepts covered in this course?
	4.	Does the firm use a balanced scorecard?
	5.	Do you have any recommendations to make?
Part F	Decision-Making Policies (Lesson #6): You were given a number of examples showing how relevant financial information was used in decision making. Review the firm's policies regarding these decisions. (45 points)
	1.	Does it follow the concepts covered in this course?
	2.	Do you have any recommendations to make?