Debt ratio, Ratio of Liabilities to Stockholders' Equity, and Times Interest Earned

Camper Company and McSead, Inc., are the two largest toy companies. Condensed liabilities and stockholders' equity from a recent balance sheet are shown for each company as follows:

The income from operations and interest expense from the income statement for both companies were as follows:

a. Determine the debt ratio for both companies. Round to one decimal place.

b. Determine the ratio of liabilities to stockholders' equity for both companies. Enter your answers as decimal values rounded to one decimal place.

c. Determine the number of times interest charges are earned for both companies. Round to one decimal place.

d. What conclusions can be drawn from these data as to the ability of these two companies to meet their interest obligations?

College students are accumulating increasing amounts of debt while they pursue their degrees. This debt has a significant economic affect as the new graduates strive to begin their life after graduation. Nationally, the mean debt of recent graduates from all public 4-year institutions was $27995.

How does the loan debt of recent graduates of North Carolina's public colleges and universities compare to student loan debt nationally? To answer this question, use the data in this Excel file Student Debt Recent UNC System Grads that shows the student debt of recent graduates from 12 UNC System schools to perform the hypothesis test:

H₀: μ = 27995, H_a: μ < 27995

where μ is the mean student loan debt of all recent graduates from UNC System schools.

Question 1: What is the value of the test statistic t for this hypothesis test? (round x and s to the nearest whole number).

Question 2: What is the P-value for this hypothesis test? (use 4 decimal places in your answer)

Question 3: What is the correct conclusion for this hypothesis test?

a) The null hypothesis H₀: μ = 27995 is false with probability equal to the P-value, so reject H₀.

b) The null hypothesis H₀: μ = 27995 is true with probability equal to the P-value, so reject H₀.    

c) Reject the null hypothesis H₀: μ = 27995; the probability we have made a mistake is equal to the P-value.

d) Do not reject the null hypothesis H₀: μ = 27995 and conclude that the mean loan debt of recent UNC System graduates does not differ significantly from the national average.

e) Reject the null hypothesis H₀: μ = 27995 and conclude that the mean student loan debt of recent UNC System graduates is less than the national average.

You own a US company with borrowings from Switzerland. Over the next few months, your loan repayment of CHF 50 million is due. Given the foreign exchange market movements, you would like to minimise the impact on your cash outflow. Based on the following data, devise a suitable strategy. Evaluate your chosen strategy against suitable alternatives for a range of expected future spot rates.

Spot rate = 0.9888 CHF/USD

3 month forward rate = 3 month future rate = 0.9796 CHF/USD

Each option contract has a size of 125,000 Swiss Francs.

Suppose that you (i.e., company XYZ) are a US-based importer of goods from Canada. You expect the value of the Canada to increase against the US dollar over the next 6 months. You will be making payment on a shipment of imported goods (CAD100,000) in 6 months and want to hedge your currency exposure. The US risk-free rate is 5% and the Canada risk-free rate is 4% per year. The current spot rate is $1.25/CAD, and the 6-month forward rate is $1.3/CAD. You can also buy a 6-month option on Canadian dollars at the strike price of $1.4 /CAD for a premium of $0.10/CAD.

1) If XYZ enters a forward contract today, the guaranteed dollar cost for this CAD obligation today (not in six months) should be $______

2) In six months, if the spot exchange rate turns to be $1.4/CAD. XYZ will be _______ using forward hedge compared with unhedged position. a) better off b) worse off c) indifferent

3) If XYZ wants to hedge the transaction exposure using money market hedge, XYZ should ______________. a) borrow PV of CAD and buy USD today, and deposit USD in the bank and sit on it. b) buy PV of CAD today using USD, and deposit CAD in the bank and sit on it.

4) If XYZ uses MMH, the guaranteed dollar cost today should be $_____

5) At what 6-month forward rate: $ /CAD will XYZ be indifferent between the forward hedge and MMH? Please leave 4 decimal points for your answer.

6) If XYZ wants to hedge the transaction exposure using option hedge, XYZ should ______. a) buy a put option b) sell a put option c) buy a call option d) sell a call option

7) If XYZ hedges the exposure using an option hedge, total option premium: $____ will be paid today. The option premium will grow to $_____ in six months at the US interest rate. In six months, if the spot price is $1.3 per CAD, the option is (in or out) of the money. So, XYZ will buy 100,000 CAD at the price of $ per CAD, which equals to a total cost of $____ After the option premium, the total (net) dollar costs in six month is $____

8) At what future spot exchange rate do you think XYZ will be indifferent between the option and forward hedge?

9) The range that you will prefer option hedge to forward hedge is ________.

A new medical test has been designed to detect the presence of the mysterious Brainlesserian disease. Among those who have the disease, the probability that the disease will be detected by the new test is 0.78. However, the probability that the test will erroneously indicate the presence of the disease in those who do not actually have it is 0.02. It is estimated that 19 % of the population who take this test have the disease.
If the test administered to an individual is positive, what is the probability that the person actually has the disease?

Financial Accounting: Question about Business Ethics

Maurice Stokes was one of the best classmates of Roy Russell while he studied his MBA in the USA. Maurice grew up in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s GDP per capita ranked 187 out of 191 countries due to adverse geopolitics and civil wars in the past. Maurice is talented and hard working. He went through his bachelor degree in Ethiopia and luckily won a scholarship to study an MBA in the USA. Right after he got his MBA degree, Maurice joined AB&T, the world’s biggest mobile phone service provider, as a management trainee. After 5 years’ working in the USA, Maurice was assigned to work as the Vice President in Addis Ababa, where AB&T’s African headquarter is located, to oversee all African operations.

After his MBA graduation, Roy Russell joined his father’s family business– a medium size mobile phone service provider in Hong Kong. Three years later, AB&T acquired Roy’s family business and retained all existing staff. Roy then became an employee of AB&T and he was happy to work for a multinational company with good reputation. After 3 years’ working as financial controller in AB&T’s Singapore office, Roy was offered an opportunity for promotion to work as chief financial officer (CFO) in its African headquarter in Addis Ababa. Eager to get more international exposure, Roy said yes to this offer. This is how Roy came to a reunion with Maurice.

AB&T provides its senior employees in Addis Ababa with a monthly housing allowance of up to $2,500. Compared with the US standard, most of the housing in Addis Ababa is of low quality, and in many regions the law and order are bad. By giving a generous allowance, AB&T aims to ensure that its senior employees live in areas that are safe, convenient and comfortable to ensure that senior executives can have good rest, that they live in a district that is appropriate to the company’s reputation. For housing allowance claim, senior executives need to hand in their monthly receipts for reimbursement. Every month Maurice submits a bill of $2,500 from his landlord to the finance office for re-imbursement. Roy suggested paying a visit Maurice’s house for a few times. However, every time Maurice rejected this suggestion, claiming that he had never entertained any coworkers at home so that his family members would not be distributed. Roy considered this understandable and so did not insist.

After working for six months in Addis Ababa, Roy had a business dinner with a supplier. The supplier mentioned that Maurice was a neighbor in a district called Winter Town. Winter Town is a district quite far from AT&T’s African office and is well-known for its high crime rate in Addis Ababa. Roy was surprised to hear that, as Maurice told him that he lived in Spring Town, a district that many foreign ambassadors lived and a lot more expensive than Winter Town. Through some connection, Roy verified that what the supplier said was true.

Roy decided to confront Maurice about the housing allowance issue. Maurice at first denied but later admitted that his apartment was in Winter Town and the rent was less than $2,500. He defended his action by saying that “Every AB&T senior executive gets $2,500 a month. If I live in an economically way, why should I be penalized? I just receive the same as others”. As a reply, Roy stressed that “It is AB&T objective to let senior employees to live in a safe place and have good rest for the challenging duties during office hours. Besides, the districts that the company’s senior executives live in represent the image of the company. Moreover, the company’s housing allowance policy is reimbursement on an actual basis, i.e. the amount of monthly claim should be the same as the rental value of the apartment and not to allow staff to make a profit. As the regional CFO, I have to maintain my professional standing”. When Roy challenged Maurice for using falsified rental receipts for disbursement claims, Maurice admitted but replied that this is a common and well-accepted practice in Ethiopia.

Later in the discussion, Maurice tried to convince Roy regarding his housing allowance claim practice. Maurice explained his situation that “You may not understand my situation. I have to save every dollar to pay school fees for my ten nephews and nieces. I got my family members’ great support to finish my education. I owe it to my brothers and sisters to give their children the same chance to study as I did. My parents can never understand why I live in a big apartment instead of helping their grandchildren. I am just doing what I should do. The company has no extra expense to reimburse me $2,500 housing allowance per the monthly receipt I submit. As my old classmate and my best friend, please pretend you know nothing and pay me $2,500 housing allowance as before. As a person grown up in Ethiopia, I know all business practice here and have good connection in this country. I know many senior executives in the government tax department and that will be helpful to your work here. I will fully support you to do an excellent job to save some tax for the benefit of our company. You will be compliment by your boss for paying a lower tax than other companies here”.

Roy does not want to lose his friendship with Maurice and he believes it will make his working life easier if he can make use of Maurice’s connection in Africa. Roy is not sure what should be his next step.

Required

1. Identify the ethical issue, if any, involved in this case?                                
2. Who are the stakeholders in this situation? How are they affected? (Hins: state all stakeholder)   
3. What are Roy’s alternatives? (Hins: state at least 3)
4. What course of action will you suggest Roy Russell to take and justify your suggestion? (Hins: reply the alternative in Q3)

I would like to ask this question about ethics in business. Thank you.

Maurice Stokes was one of the best classmates of Roy Russell while he studied his MBA in the USA. Maurice grew up in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s GDP per capita ranked 187 out of 191 countries due to adverse geopolitics and civil wars in the past. Maurice is talented and hard working. He went through his bachelor degree in Ethiopia and luckily won a scholarship to study an MBA in the USA. Right after he got his MBA degree, Maurice joined AB&T, the world’s biggest mobile phone service provider, as a management trainee. After 5 years’ working in the USA, Maurice was assigned to work as the Vice President in Addis Ababa, where AB&T’s African headquarter is located, to oversee all African operations.

After his MBA graduation, Roy Russell joined his father’s family business– a medium size mobile phone service provider in Hong Kong. Three years later, AB&T acquired Roy’s family business and retained all existing staff. Roy then became an employee of AB&T and he was happy to work for a multinational company with good reputation. After 3 years’ working as financial controller in AB&T’s Singapore office, Roy was offered an opportunity for promotion to work as chief financial officer (CFO) in its African headquarter in Addis Ababa. Eager to get more international exposure, Roy said yes to this offer. This is how Roy came to a reunion with Maurice.

AB&T provides its senior employees in Addis Ababa with a monthly housing allowance of up to $2,500. Compared with the US standard, most of the housing in Addis Ababa is of low quality, and in many regions the law and order are bad. By giving a generous allowance, AB&T aims to ensure that its senior employees live in areas that are safe, convenient and comfortable to ensure that senior executives can have good rest, that they live in a district that is appropriate to the company’s reputation. For housing allowance claim, senior executives need to hand in their monthly receipts for reimbursement. Every month Maurice submits a bill of $2,500 from his landlord to the finance office for re-imbursement. Roy suggested paying a visit Maurice’s house for a few times. However, every time Maurice rejected this suggestion, claiming that he had never entertained any coworkers at home so that his family members would not be distributed. Roy considered this understandable and so did not insist.

After working for six months in Addis Ababa, Roy had a business dinner with a supplier. The supplier mentioned that Maurice was a neighbor in a district called Winter Town. Winter Town is a district quite far from AT&T’s African office and is well-known for its high crime rate in Addis Ababa. Roy was surprised to hear that, as Maurice told him that he lived in Spring Town, a district that many foreign ambassadors lived and a lot more expensive than Winter Town. Through some connection, Roy verified that what the supplier said was true.

Roy decided to confront Maurice about the housing allowance issue. Maurice at first denied but later admitted that his apartment was in Winter Town and the rent was less than $2,500. He defended his action by saying that “Every AB&T senior executive gets $2,500 a month. If I live in an economically way, why should I be penalized? I just receive the same as others”. As a reply, Roy stressed that “It is AB&T objective to let senior employees to live in a safe place and have good rest for the challenging duties during office hours. Besides, the districts that the company’s senior executives live in represent the image of the company. Moreover, the company’s housing allowance policy is reimbursement on an actual basis, i.e. the amount of monthly claim should be the same as the rental value of the apartment and not to allow staff to make a profit. As the regional CFO, I have to maintain my professional standing”. When Roy challenged Maurice for using falsified rental receipts for disbursement claims, Maurice admitted but replied that this is a common and well-accepted practice in Ethiopia.

Later in the discussion, Maurice tried to convince Roy regarding his housing allowance claim practice. Maurice explained his situation that “You may not understand my situation. I have to save every dollar to pay school fees for my ten nephews and nieces. I got my family members’ great support to finish my education. I owe it to my brothers and sisters to give their children the same chance to study as I did. My parents can never understand why I live in a big apartment instead of helping their grandchildren. I am just doing what I should do. The company has no extra expense to reimburse me $2,500 housing allowance per the monthly receipt I submit. As my old classmate and my best friend, please pretend you know nothing and pay me $2,500 housing allowance as before. As a person grown up in Ethiopia, I know all business practice here and have good connection in this country. I know many senior executives in the government tax department and that will be helpful to your work here. I will fully support you to do an excellent job to save some tax for the benefit of our company. You will be compliment by your boss for paying a lower tax than other companies here”.

Roy does not want to lose his friendship with Maurice and he believes it will make his working life easier if he can make use of Maurice’s connection in Africa. Roy is not sure what should be his next step.

Required

1. Identify the ethical issue, if any, involved in this case?                                     

2. Who are the stakeholders in this situation? How are they affected?

3. What are Roy’s alternatives?   

4. What course of action will you suggest Roy Russell to take and justify your suggestion?

Maurice Stokes was one of the best classmates of Roy Russell while he studied his MBA in the USA. Maurice grew up in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s GDP per capita ranked 187 out of 191 countries due to adverse geopolitics and civil wars in the past. Maurice is talented and hard working. He went through his bachelor degree in Ethiopia and luckily won a scholarship to study an MBA in the USA. Right after he got his MBA degree, Maurice joined AB&T, the world’s biggest mobile phone service provider, as a management trainee. After 5 years’ working in the USA, Maurice was assigned to work as the Vice President in Addis Ababa, where AB&T’s African headquarter is located, to oversee all African operations.

After his MBA graduation, Roy Russell joined his father’s family business– a medium size mobile phone service provider in Hong Kong. Three years later, AB&T acquired Roy’s family business and retained all existing staff. Roy then became an employee of AB&T and he was happy to work for a multinational company with good reputation. After 3 years’ working as financial controller in AB&T’s Singapore office, Roy was offered an opportunity for promotion to work as chief financial officer (CFO) in its African headquarter in Addis Ababa. Eager to get more international exposure, Roy said yes to this offer. This is how Roy came to a reunion with Maurice.

AB&T provides its senior employees in Addis Ababa with a monthly housing allowance of up to $2,500. Compared with the US standard, most of the housing in Addis Ababa is of low quality, and in many regions the law and order are bad. By giving a generous allowance, AB&T aims to ensure that its senior employees live in areas that are safe, convenient and comfortable to ensure that senior executives can have good rest, that they live in a district that is appropriate to the company’s reputation. For housing allowance claim, senior executives need to hand in their monthly receipts for reimbursement. Every month Maurice submits a bill of $2,500 from his landlord to the finance office for re-imbursement. Roy suggested paying a visit Maurice’s house for a few times. However, every time Maurice rejected this suggestion, claiming that he had never entertained any coworkers at home so that his family members would not be distributed. Roy considered this understandable and so did not insist.

After working for six months in Addis Ababa, Roy had a business dinner with a supplier. The supplier mentioned that Maurice was a neighbor in a district called Winter Town. Winter Town is a district quite far from AT&T’s African office and is well-known for its high crime rate in Addis Ababa. Roy was surprised to hear that, as Maurice told him that he lived in Spring Town, a district that many foreign ambassadors lived and a lot more expensive than Winter Town. Through some connection, Roy verified that what the supplier said was true.

Roy decided to confront Maurice about the housing allowance issue. Maurice at first denied but later admitted that his apartment was in Winter Town and the rent was less than $2,500. He defended his action by saying that “Every AB&T senior executive gets $2,500 a month. If I live in an economically way, why should I be penalized? I just receive the same as others”. As a reply, Roy stressed that “It is AB&T objective to let senior employees to live in a safe place and have good rest for the challenging duties during office hours. Besides, the districts that the company’s senior executives live in represent the image of the company. Moreover, the company’s housing allowance policy is reimbursement on an actual basis, i.e. the amount of monthly claim should be the same as the rental value of the apartment and not to allow staff to make a profit. As the regional CFO, I have to maintain my professional standing”. When Roy challenged Maurice for using falsified rental receipts for disbursement claims, Maurice admitted but replied that this is a common and well-accepted practice in Ethiopia.

Later in the discussion, Maurice tried to convince Roy regarding his housing allowance claim practice. Maurice explained his situation that “You may not understand my situation. I have to save every dollar to pay school fees for my ten nephews and nieces. I got my family members’ great support to finish my education. I owe it to my brothers and sisters to give their children the same chance to study as I did. My parents can never understand why I live in a big apartment instead of helping their grandchildren. I am just doing what I should do. The company has no extra expense to reimburse me $2,500 housing allowance per the monthly receipt I submit. As my old classmate and my best friend, please pretend you know nothing and pay me $2,500 housing allowance as before. As a person grown up in Ethiopia, I know all business practice here and have good connection in this country. I know many senior executives in the government tax department and that will be helpful to your work here. I will fully support you to do an excellent job to save some tax for the benefit of our company. You will be compliment by your boss for paying a lower tax than other companies here”.

Roy does not want to lose his friendship with Maurice and he believes it will make his working life easier if he can make use of Maurice’s connection in Africa. Roy is not sure what should be his next step.

Required

1. Identify the ethical issue, if any, involved in this case?   

2. Who are the stakeholders in this situation? How are they affected?  

3. What are Roy’s alternatives?

4. What course of action will you suggest Roy Russell to take and justify your suggestion?

You have recently been hired by Swan Motors, Inc. (SMI), in its relatively new treasury management department. SMI was founded 8 years ago by Joe Swan. Joe found a method to manufacture a cheaper battery with much greater energy density than was previously possible, giving a car powered by the battery a range of 700 miles before requiring a charge. The cars manufactured by SMI are midsized and carry a price that allows the company to compete with other mainstream auto manufacturers. The company is privately owned by Joe and his family, and it had sales of $97 million last year. SMI primarily sells to customers who buy the cars online, although it does have a limited number of company-owned dealerships. Most sales are online. The customer selects any customization and makes a deposit of 20 percent of the purchase price. After the order is taken, the car is made to order, typically within 45 days. SMI’s growth to date has come from its profits. When the company had sufficient capital, it would expand production. Relatively little formal analysis has been used in its capital budgeting process. Joe has just read about capital budgeting techniques and has come to you for help. For starters, the company has never attempted to determine its cost of capital, and Joe would like you to perform the analysis. Because the company is privately owned, it is difficult to determine the cost of equity for the company. Joe wants you to use the pure play approach to estimate the cost of capital for SMI, and he has chosen Tesla Motors as a representative company. The following questions will lead you through the steps to calculate this estimate.

3. you can use other websites such as marketwatch.com, Bloomberg.com, etc. to find the main competitors of Tesla. Find the beta for each of these competitors, and then calculate the industry average beta. Using the industry average beta, what is the cost of equity? Does it matter if you use the beta for Tesla or the beta for the industry in this case?

Mimi operates Mimi’s Cupcakes, a single store in College Station. She claims that her cupcakes are from an old family-recipe and that is why her shop is so successful. Cakes ‘R Us is a national chain with 1,000 stores in all 50 states. Cakes “R Us claims that Mimi has stolen its proprietary recipe (she did not). Cakes ‘R Us threatens to file a civil lawsuit against Mimi for $1 Million in damages unless she agrees to a contract to share 50% of her profits with the Cakes “R Us. Because she cannot afford an attorney or the cost of litigation, she reluctantly agrees. Later, when Mimi does not share her profits with Cakes ‘R Us, the company sues her for breach of contract. Mimi seeks to defend herself by claiming both undue influence and duress. Under these limited acts, will a court recognize either defense, and explain why or why not.