If someone could give me some ideas to discuss, that would be great! Particularly anyting to do with access.

Introduction

The internal auditor of Missouri State University was in a quandary. Several retail items from a major supplier were on clearance; and the paper trail led to a check from the supplier that had not been cashed (in situations where merchandise is on clearance the supplier often provides a check to help offset the loss to the bookstore). The auditor decided to call the manager of the bookstore, Mark Brixey.

Brixey was on vacation, but the auditor was able to contact him. Brixey confirmed that the bookstore did receive a check from the supplier, but the check was locked in his desk. Brixey said not to worry; he would deposit the check as soon as he got back from vacation. The auditor was not comfortable with this, and decided to unlock the desk and retrieve the check. Once the desk was unlocked, the internal auditor found the check….and over $80,000 in cash.

In August of 2012, the Missouri State University Bookstore fraud was discovered during the routine internal audit. The former bookstore manager, Mark Brixey, was charged with embezzling more than $1.1 million dollars from the bookstore mostly from the textbook buyback program. Brixey was the bookstore manager from 1998 to 2012 and he began embezzling the money in 2003. The first year he stole $29,000; the amounts he stole steadily increased each year. Once the fraud was discovered he was placed on administrative leave by the University and then later resigned. He was later found guilty in federal court of illegal wire transfers and was sentenced to federal prison.

The Fraud

   The internal audit department at Missouri State University discovered the fraud during the internal audit while the bookstore manager was on vacation. The internal audit team found inventory markdowns that had a reference to a specific check that should have been accounted for by the University. The team then contacted the director and found out the check was in his desk, and then they decided to get access to his desk to account for the check. When searching through his desk they did not find the check, however they did find over $81,000 in cash (McHaney), and when Brixey returned from his vacation he could not explain what happened to the missing check (Grant). After this was discovered, the internal audit was extended to further investigate the fraud.

The main sources of missing funds discovered in which Brixey was responsible for include:

Checks from textbook companies payable to the University or University Bookstore for purchase of wholesale inventory;

Buy-back or commission checks and cash from Follett payable to the University or University Bookstore;

Checks payable to the University or University Bookstore from Follett from the purchase of University Athletic Department owned textbooks which were returned by student athletes to the Athletics Office;

Checks payable to the University or University Bookstore from Follett for shared expenses during the buy-back process;

Checks payable to the University or University Bookstore from Follett for online sales of textbooks (McHaney).

The total of these missing funds amounted to $1,324,280.68, but the net amount of missing funds was $1,210,701.18 after the internal audit team discovered the cash in Brixey’s desk (McHaney).

Most of the money that Brixey stole was through the textbook buy-back programs conducted on campus twice a year at the end of each fall and spring semester and the sale of wholesale textbooks to textbook companies. The University would bring in an outside company, Follett Educational Services, to operate the buy-back programs. Brixey was in charge of handling all interactions with Follett. At the end of each buyback period, a Follett representative would write a commission check to the University for allowing them to conduct the program on campus. The check was given directly to Brixey, and he would then take the check to the Bursar’s Office to be cashed, claiming that he needed the cash in order to pay students for textbooks (“Former Bookstore Manager Sentenced…”). The Bursar’s Office took Brixey’s word and did not question him whenever he cashed the checks. The bookstore would also sell textbooks to Follett that were no longer used by professors; the University would receive a check from Follett for these textbooks and Brixey would go cash these in the same manner as he did the commission checks. During the last two years that Brixey was the director, the Follett representative had started paying the University in cash instead of writing a check. The total of the missing funds for the buy-back process amounted to $275,555.64, and the total of missing funds for the sale of wholesale textbooks to textbook companies was $645,732.71.

The checks payable to the University for the Athletics Department owned textbooks were also given to Brixey. Brixey never accounted for the checks, and never transferred the funds to the Athletics Department either. The total of the missing funds to the Athletics Department was $385,294.

The rest of the missing funds were from Follett checks that were for shared expenses amounting to $5,155.03, and for the online sales of textbooks totaling $12,543.30.

   After Brixey cashed the checks or received the checks he failed to record these transactions in the University’s accounting system; he would keep the cash from the checks and the cash from the Follett representative for his own personal use (“Former Bookstore Manager Sentenced…”).

Solving the Problem

The disclosure of the fraud provided unwanted negative publicity for the university; along with the realization that the bookstore was financially vulnerable. The internal audit group at Missouri State University decided to extend their internal audit and prescribe additional controls that would help prevent this type of fraud from occurring in the future.

List and discuss some controls or policies that should have been in place over cash at the University Bookstore.... If someone could give me some ideas to discuss, that would be great!

During January 2019, Mindy, Inc. acquired 30% of the outstanding common stock of Milton Co. for $1,500,000. This investment gave Mindy the ability to exercise significant influence over Milton. Milton’s assets on that date were recorded at $6,400,000 with liabilities of $3,000,000. Any excess of cost over book value of Mindy’ investment was attributed to unrecorded patents having a remaining useful life of ten years.

In 2019, Milton reported net income of $600,000. For 2020, Milton reported net income of $750,000. Dividends of $200,000 were paid in each of these two years. What was the reported balance of Mindy’ Investment in Wilson Co. at December 31, 2020 and how much was the reported investment income in Wilson for 2020?

1. You are the HR manager for an automobile manufacturing plant. The assembly technicians in this plant are scheduled to take part in a one-day training seminar in safety awareness and expectations. The CEO has asked you to come up with a plan in advance for how you will evaluate the effectiveness of the training. Identify and name the four basic categories of training outcomes or effects that a manager can measure when evaluating the training effort. For each of the four categories, 1) describe at least one concrete way you could approach the measurement of effectiveness and 2) why you are recommending that approach. Be sure to relate your ideas to the specific nature of this training, e.g. safety awareness and expectations.

2. Megan has been a Human Resources recruiter for a mid-sized company for the past five years. She aspires to be promoted to an HR Manager or HR Director position when such an opportunity becomes available. Megan is accustomed to working about 45 hours per week, but this is taking into account that she prefers to work at a fairly relaxed pace. Megan's job has always been classified as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), but she has just been informed that it is being reclassified as non-exempt based on recent job evaluation. Identify two differences between exempt versus nonexempt status under FLSA. For Megan's situation, explain what the impact will be on her job as a result of being reclassified as nonexempt, and identify one potential advantage and one potential disadvantage she might perceive from her point of view. Explain how this change could have an impact on her morale and motivation for the better or the worse.

3. Define the term "situational interview" and the term "behavioral interview." Explain how the two approaches to interviewing are different from one another in terms of the types of questions that are asked. Describe the "STAR" technique used in behavioral interviewing and explain why this concept is important. Finally, reflecting back on the round of practice behavioral interviews you took part in during class or in our WebEx sessions, identify two specific things you learned that might be helpful to you in the future if you are ever interviewing job candidates on behalf of your employer.

Sarah Allen Company was formed on December 1, 2019. The following information is available from Allen’s inventory records for Product BAP.

A physical inventory on March 31, 2020, shows 4,320 units on hand.

a. Prepare schedule to compute the ending inventory at March 31, 2020, under FIFO inventory method.

b. Prepare schedule to compute the ending inventory at March 31, 2020, under LIFO inventory method.

Calculate average-cost per unit. (Round answer to 2 decimal places, e.g. 2.)   

Weighted Average-Cost per Units     $________

Compute the ending inventory at March 31, 2020, under Weighted-average inventory method. (Round answer to 0 decimal places, e.g. 2,760.)

                  Weighted Average                                                   

Ending Inventory at March 31, 2020     $______________

Item B. Contingent Liability Facts: • You are auditing a very successful and highly profitable manufacturing company as of December 31, 2020. • The Company has always maintained adequate insurance in different areas. The Company has decided, effective January 1, 2021, not to purchase insurance against risk of loss that may result from injury to others, damage to the property of others, or interruption of its business operations. • The Company would like to record a $5,000,000 reserve as of December 31, 2020 for claims associated with future events which may occur. Required: 1. Should the Company record this $5,000,000 Reserve for Claims (a contingent liability) in its 12/31/2020 Financial Statements? Why or why not?

An inexperienced accountant for Can’t Add Company recorded the following transactions in the records of the company for the year ended December 31, 2019. The controller has questioned the appropriateness of the entries since she thinks that they have not been recorded in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

1. An order for $61,500 was received from a customer on December 29, 2019 for products on hand. This order was shipped f.o.b. shipping point on January 9, 2020. The accountant made the following entry in 2019:

Accounts Receivable ……………………….. 61,500

Sales Revenue ………………………………. 61,500

2. Because of a “fire sale”, equipment that was obviously worth $200,000, was acquired at a bargain price of $155,000. The following entry was made:

Equipment …………………………………. 200,000

Cash ………………………. 155,000

Gain on Equipment …………….. 45,000

3. On January 1, the company president, the owner of the company, took a personal vacation trip to the Gaspé. The trip cost $ 3,000. The accountant recorded the entry as follows:

Travel Expense ............................................................................. 3,000

Accounts Payable ................................................................... 3,000

4. The company purchased on account a wastebasket on December 31 at a cost of $ 20. The accountant made the following entry:

Office Equipment ........................................................................... 20

Accounts Payable ................................................................... 20

In each situation above, identify the concept that has been violated, if any and why you think it has been violated. If a journal entry is incorrect, provide the correct journal entry.

One of our topics this week involves looking at continuous distributions, and recognizing the "Normal distribution" bell curve when it appears. The text also covers other types of common distributions we see as well.

These have also been covered in The Lady Tasting Tea - and we've done a LOT of histograms in this class because of this very week. NOW you see why we take so much time in constructing those histograms - they can show us the distribution of a data set in an easy to recognize format.

For this week's Excel assignment, I'm going to let you use any of the data sets we have practiced with so far in class. They're all fair game from the gradesPreview the document data, to moviesPreview the document, basketball statsPreview the document, LMAS animalsPreview the document, etc.

Turn in an Excel spreadsheet with at least FOUR examples of distributions covered in the text this week. Show their histograms, and explain why you think they fit that particular distribution type. Also include the descriptive statistics that back up what you see from the graphs, and tell how they support that finding - because we can't always rely on visual analysis alone, of course!

Why not? See the link I have posted about The Datasaurus Dozen!

One of our topics this week involves looking at continuous distributions, and recognizing the "Normal distribution" bell curve when it appears. The text also covers other types of common distributions we see as well.

These have also been covered in The Lady Tasting Tea - and we've done a LOT of histograms in this class because of this very week. NOW you see why we take so much time in constructing those histograms - they can show us the distribution of a data set in an easy to recognize format.

For this week's Excel assignment, I'm going to let you use any of the data sets we have practiced with so far in class. They're all fair game from the gradesPreview the document data, to moviesPreview the document, basketball statsPreview the document, LMAS animalsPreview the document, etc.

Turn in an Excel spreadsheet with at least FOUR examples of distributions covered in the text this week. Show their histograms, and explain why you think they fit that particular distribution type. Also include the descriptive statistics that back up what you see from the graphs, and tell how they support that finding - because we can't always rely on visual analysis alone, of course!

Why not? See the link I have posted about The Datasaurus Dozen!

           Data from Indiana Colleges      
                  
Name of Institution   Graduation Rate (%)   Salary After Attending ($)   Number of Students   Typical Total Debt ($)   Average Annual Cost ($)
Ancilla College   0.24   29200   398   20000   16395
Anderson University   0.57   35900   1862   27999   22654
Ball State University   0.58   39000   15985   25000   15294
Bethel College   0.63   36500   1579   21884   17730
Brown Mackie College - Fort Wayne   0.37   25200   659   21599   19133
Brown Mackie College - Merrillville   0.43   25200   619   21599   18575
Brown Mackie College - Michigan City   0.32   25200   290   21599   19178
Brown Mackie College - South Bend   0.38   25200   423   21599   19230
Butler University   0.73   52400   3998   26600   29103
Calumet College of St. Joseph   0.32   37200   988   24224   11517
College of Court Reporting Inc   0.31   23300   252   0   21106
Crossroads Bible College   0.61   26800   219   26951   15438
Depauw University   0.78   47800   2272   24500   22171
Earlham College   0.71   32300   1016   27000   19414
Franklin College   0.59   41000   969   27000   20438
Goshen College   0.71   36300   778   20857   19001
Grace College and Theological Seminary   0.6   33200   1286   22700   15799
Hanover College   0.69   44400   1159   27000   21002
Harrison College - Indianapolis   0.31   24700   3726   27167   19196
Holy Cross College   0.39   36300   490   25000   17637
Hunigton University   0.61   35500   1030   27000   19192
Indiana Institue of Technology   0.31   41100   5670   28744   21940
Indiana State University   0.43   36000   10173   24193   11864
Indiana University - Bloomington   0.76   45300   31984   23628   14174
Indiana University - East   0.25   29100   3132   23388   9011
Indiana University - Kokomo   0.25   33600   2708   19500   10921
Indiana University - Northwest   0.24   35900   4764   29037   13211
Indiana University - South Bend   0.25   33800   5538   25724   12068
Indiana University - Southeast   0.29   34000   5699   22915   11550
Indiana Wesleyan University   0.65   46000   10625   24807   25340
International Business College - Fort Wayne   0.73   27200   406   13625   17673
International Business College - Indianapolis   0.73   27200   399   13625   16346
IPFW   0.25   35900   9795   26000   14337
ITT Technical Institute - Fort Wayne   0.34   38400   283   25834   22119
ITT Technical Institute - Indianapolis   0.19   38400   4296   25834   23589
ITT Technical Institute - Newburgh   0.35   38400   295   25834   23921
IUPUI   0.4   39100   21569   25388   14666
Manchester University   0.53   38000   1188   27000   20151
Martin University   0.56   40400   2054   30090   19459
MedTech College - Fort Wayne   0.67   29300   357   20000   21736
MedTech College - Greenwood   0.5   29300   551   20000   21921
MedTech College - Indianapolis   0.5   29300   603   20000   21836
Mid-America College of Funeral Service   0.69   35400   63   17000   7585
Oakland City University   0.67   33700   587   17000   15629
Purdue University   0.7   52600   30167   23766   15543
Purdue University - Calumet   0.3   38100   7466   22781   12007
Purdue University - North Central   0.25   35200   3514   26000   9850
Rose-Hulman University   0.75   78900   2165   27000   33087
Saint Joesphs College   0.47   39800   1096   27000   25255
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College   0.61   30200   630   27000   16466
Saint Mary's College   0.74   45600   1470   27000   24319
Taylor University   0.76   38600   1873   24713   19696
The Art Institute of Indianapolis   0.23   25200   862   21599   26323
Trine University   0.052   42600   1431   26063   21183
University of Evansville   0.66   40000   2373   26000   20396
University of Indianapolis   0.56   41600   4108   27450   22293
University of Notre Dame   0.95   69400   8466   21000   27845
University of Phoenix - Indianapolis   0.12   53400   338   35500   18704
University of Saint Francis   0.52   40000   1878   26000   16809
University of Southern Indiana   0.39   35500   8764   23275   14098
Valparasio University   0.72   48100   3209   27000   19952
Vincennes University   0.26   32200   8313   15599   10694
Wabash College   0.71   49900   896   23000   22723
                  
                  

Betty is an aspiring CPA. In 2020, she finished her last semester at San Diego State, where she graduated with an undergraduate degree in accounting. Betty was a full-time student and paid $3,500 in tuition and to San Diego State in 2020 and paid $750 for required textbooks. Betty already claimed the American Opportunity Tax Credit in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Betty’s husband, Barry, is a nurse. He is also pursuing his Masters in Nursing at University of San Diego. In 2020, he spent $8,000 on tuition for his graduate program. Barry also paid $500 for required textbooks. The tuition and books were not reimbursed by Barry’s employer.

Betty and Barry will file a joint tax return for 2020, and neither can be claimed as a dependent on anyone else’s tax return. Their modified AGI is below the phaseout threshold for both the American Opportunity Tax Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit.

What is the maximum amount of education tax credits that Betty and Barry can claim on their 2020 tax return?

For the next three years MBA Inc. is expected to pay​ $1.50, $2.00 and​ $2.50 in dividends and after that dividends will grow at the rate of​ 4% in perpetuity. The required rate of return is​ 12%. Assuming the first dividend will be paid in exactly one​ year, the intrinsic value of MBA shares is

A. $28.96

B. $38.50

C. $25.37

D. $27.85

a client that is having trouble at work. Be sure to develop a plan for the interview ahead of time. What is the purpose of your interview and how will you achieve that purpose?

Be sure to follow the ethical guidelines you have read about, including competence, confidentiality, and informed consent.

What could make this interview difficult or uncomfortable, also name factors that could make this interview welcoming and comfortable while naming effective probing and information gathering techniques. Be as specific as possible. For example, were there things you or your client said or did during the interview that were uncomfortable?