Ben Bates graduated from college six years ago with a finance undergraduate degree. Although he is satisfied with his current job, his goal is to become an investment banker. He feels that an MBA degree would allow him to achieve this goal. After examining schools, he has narrowed his choice to either Wilton University or Mount Perry College. Although Internships are encouraged by both schools, to get class credit for the internship, no salary can be paid. Other than internships, neither school will allow its students to work while enrolled in its MBA program.

Ben Currently works at the money management firm of Dewey and Louis. His Annual salary at the firm is $53,000 per year, and his salary is expected to increase at 3 percent per year until retirement. He is currently 28 years old and expects to work for 38 more years. His current job includes a fully paid health insurance plan, and his current average tax rate is 26 percent. Ben has a savings account with enough money to cover the entire cost of his MBA program.

The Ritter College of Business at Wilton University is one of the top MBA programs in the Country. The MBA degree requires two years of full-time enrollment at the university. The annual tuition is $58,000, payable at the beginning of each school year. Books and other supplies are estimated to cost $2000 per year. Ben expects that after graduation from Wilton, he will receive a job offer for about $87,000 per year, with a $10,000 signing bonus. The salary at this job will increase at 4 percent per year. Because of the higher salary, his average income tax rate will increase to 31 percent.

       The Bradley School of Business at Mount Perry College began its MBA program 16 years ago. The Bradley School is smaller and less well known than Ritter College. Bradley offers an accelerated one-year program, with a tuition cost of $75,000 to be paid upon matriculation. Books and other supplies for the program are expected to cost $4200. Ben thinks that he will receive an offer of $78,000 per year upon graduation, with an $8,000 signing bonus. The salary at this job will increase at 3.5 percent per year. His average tax rate at this level of income will be at 29%.

       Both Schools offer a health insurance plan that will cost $3,000 per year, payable at the beginning of the year. Ben has also found that both schools offer graduate housing. His room and board expenses will decrease by $4,000 per year at either school he attends. The appropriate discount rate is 6.5 percent.

Assume that Ben decides to work on the MBA program at Wilton University, what is the present value of direct cost?

An analyst is preparing a report for the CEO of a company. Two options for insurance, A and B, are available for purchase by the company. There is an 80% chance an incident will be covered with option A and 95% chance an incident will be covered if option B is used. Option B is more expensive, however, and the analyst estimates only a 30% chance the CEO will select it (the CEO will select option A the other 70% of the time).

Use the following notation:

A— option A is purchased
B— option B is purchased
C— a given incident is covered

Q

Which of the following is the correct representation of the information that is provided to us?

Q

What is the probability that an incident will be covered?

Q

A particular incident was covered. What is the probability that the CEO chose to purchase option A?

Pretend that you are at a cocktail party talking to the CEO of a small company who has a minimal understanding of accounting. She learns that you are a CPA, buys you a beverage (adult-type if that is your preference), and engages you in conversation. She explains that her company is acting as the general contractor for the construction of its own manufacturing plant. She's been advised that the company must "capitalize interest" in connection with the project. She has no idea what that means. She's concerned that this will cost her company money. Explain the concept, the reasoning behind it, and potential advantages to the company from this entirely appropriate accounting. Remember, she is a knowledgeable business person, but not as well versed in accounting as she would like to be. Your explanation should be careful not to assume that she understands much accounting jargon.

Confidential note: She's seeking out every CPA she can find. The one who provides the best answer will be her new accountant!! If you want the business, (and the full 10 points), you might want to subtly and professionally "supplement" the responses of your competition. However, don't be a jerk...nobody likes a jerk :)

It's ok to have a little fun here, just make sure to be respectful of your classmates! Your score will be based upon the substance of your response, but if I'm entertained a little, I don't see how that could hurt.

You are the CEO of a company that has a choice of making a $500 million investment in either Ethiopia or Venezuela. The profits you can expect to make would be the same in both locations, so your choice will depend on your assessment of the political risks in each country. Do some research to assess the various risks of doing business in either county. Which one would you choose and why?

The internal auditor of a small company has recommended to the CEO that it invest in a disaster recovery plan (DRP) because of several identified vulnerabilities. Traditional in-house DRP approaches are, however, not a viable option because the company lacks the necessary IT resources to implement and manage these tasks. The auditor has suggested that outsourcing disaster recovery to a cloud-based service provider may be a reasonable alternative. The CEO has no experience with cloud computing and has asked the internal auditor to provide him with more information.

Required:

Prepare a report outlining cloud computing. Your report should address the following:

1. Define cloud computing.
2. List the key features of cloud computing
3. Describe how the services provided under cloud computing relate to disaster recovery planning.
4. Outline the risks associated with this technology

1. a CEO of a company hear about your qualifications as a an IS consultant and approached you for consultation. she told you that currently they don't have a real information systems in their organization. The employees use Excel, Word, and other similar programs to support their organization. She told you that she was informed by a friend of hers that it is possible to lower costs , increase sales, increase efficiency, and sometimes even to gain a competitive advantage by appropriate use of real information systems. (e.g., an ERP software package to manage inventory, accounting, purchasing, sales, production, and other organizational units). Following her friend’s explanation, she decided to install an ERP software package in her company, she found a good one for heading this activity who was highly recommended by a colleague of hers. During the process of interviewing this candidate, she was impressed by his skills and personality and was about to offer him the job. Then the candidate told her that in order for him to accept the offer, she has to appoint him as a CIO and let him have a seat at the executive table. The CEO thought and then realized that appointing the IT manager as the CIO will cost her a lot. The position at the executive level will entitle him to a higher salary, and a lot of other resources. Like all the other “C” level executives receive. On the other hand, as she told you, while the other executive deserve the additional resources since their contribution to the organization and tis operation and performance is well defined and appreciated for a long time. (e.g., the HR, finance, and operation VPs), the contribution of the IT is not as tangible. They just provide some reports, and these reports may not justify the cost. As a consultant that is fully aware of the business perception, and of the difficult economic situation, you realize the importance of cost saving. What will you advise the CEO to do? Please explain.

Read the questions below and answer as if you are the CEO of the company:

1. When a person doesn’t work all the hours they are supposed to during the day, are they defrauding the company?
2. Is allowing a person to work overtime if they don't need to defrauding the company?
3. Why must I learn to balance the cash account when I put the money in the bank to protect it?
4. Do I have a legal obligation to give cash back to someone when I have no idea who that person is?

If you are a CEO of a company, why do you think it is important to apply the "Design Thinking"? how it will change and affect? ( Answer: Write everything you know about design thinking theory using (Empathy, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test))

Assume that you are the CFO of a company contemplating a stock repurchase next quarter. You know that there are several methods of reducing the current quarterly earnings, which may cause the stock price to fall prior to the announcement of the proposed stock repurchase.

What course of action would you recommend to your CEO? If your CEO came to you first and recommended reducing the current quarter’s earnings, what would be your response?

Your initial posting should be 250-500 words.