Questions
What alternative would be the least costly for the company and what alternative should the company choose?


A manufacturer is considering alternatives regarding the production of highly specialized and useful precision part, originally engineered and developed by the company, and supplied to the company’s main customer. The company has patented the design and the use of that particular component, so no-one else can produce it without the company’s permission, and, therefore, it is one of the most profitable products that the firm sells, providing $5M in annual revenues for the firm. Recently, however, the firm made certain improvements to the alloy used in the production of the part, something the engineers considered necessary to ensure the part meets new safety standards. Without certain modifications, the existing equipment used in the production of the part in question would not be able to handle the new alloy. In choosing how to address the problem, the company has three alternatives. All alternatives will be able to use the new alloy, will result in the same quality of finished produce, satisfying the company’s and its customer’s demands, but differ in annual maintenance costs, initial price, and longevity.

The first alternative is to keep existing equipment, but update it to handle the new alloy. The old equipment was bought three years ago, at the price of US$2.3M and is being depreciated on the straight-line basis over 8-year useful life to its expected salvage value of zero. In fact, the old equipment is already worthless on the market, because moving it somewhere else costs as much as other firms are willing to pay for it. The necessary updates, which need to be depreciated over 3 years, will not prolong the life of the equipment, but will allow to increase the quality of finished product to the necessary level. The expected cost of the necessary updates is $500K. The old equipment requires $300,000 in annual maintenance expense.

The second alternative is to replace the old equipment with new one. The new equipment would cost US$1.7M to buy and install, requires $500,000 in annual maintenance expense, but has a useful life of 5 years. It is also depreciated using straight-line method but has a salvage value of $200,000 at the end of its life.

The third alternative is to outsource the production of the part to an external contractor. The management expected that external contractors would charge $800K per year to produce the required quantity of the product, at the required quality, using the newly-developed alloy.

What alternative would be the least costly for the company and what alternative should the company choose? The company’s weighted average cost of capital is 10% and its marginal rate of income tax is 21%.

Instructions:

- Read carefully

- Figure out each alternative

- This is one question.

In: Finance

The Walt Disney Company is planning to add a new rollercoaster to its park in Anaheim,...

The Walt Disney Company is planning to add a new rollercoaster to its park in Anaheim, California. The cost to purchase and build this rollercoaster will be $12,000,000 and will cost $80,000 in maintenance every year. Disney will also assign staff to organize lines and guide visitors through these rollercoasters. The salary of the staff is expected to be $100,000 every 6 months. After 10 years of operation, the rollercoaster equipment needs to be remodeled at a cost of $1,000,000. During remodeling, it will be unavailable to visitors for 6 months. The rollercoaster will be operational for another 9.5 years, after which it will be considered obsolete. Its estimated salvage value at that time is $1,500,000.

The management of the Disneyland estimates that the rollercoaster will attract 20,000 people in the first six months of operation, and that this figure will grow by 3% per semester (6 months). Assume that during the major upgrade, the number of additional visitors is zero and that the number of visitors after the rollercoaster starts again is the same number as immediately before the major upgrade (the growth rate remains 3%). The benefit per visitor is $10.50 and the interest rate is 7% per year compounded semi- annually.

a) Draw the cash-flow diagram.

b) What is the benefit (in today’s $$) of this investment?

c) What is the cost to Walt Disney company (in today’s $$)?

d) Determine the benefit-cost ratio. Should the Walt Disney management pursue the investment?

e) In case the management should not pursue it, what would be the minimum required benefit per visitor such that the investment can be considered profitable?

THESE IS ALL THE INFORMATION NECESSARY TO COMPLETE THE PROBLEM. THERE IS NO OTHER NECESSARY INFO

In: Accounting

                  Period        Variables Current Projected Current Projected Current Projected Sales $100,000 $12

           

      Period       

Variables

Current

Projected

Current

Projected

Current

Projected

Sales

$100,000

$120,000

Assets

Liab.&Own -ers’ Equ.

Cost

$ 75,000

Short Term

$60,000

Debt

$40,000

Net Income

Long Term

$20,000

Equity

$40,000

As we said in class all models are built on assumptions:

1     Dividend payout ratio is 50% therefore, the retention rate is the remainder

2      All assets and noninterest bearing liabilities vary is the same proportion as sales

3       Use the following equation to find the additional funding needed (AFN):

.

REQUIRED:

  1. Find the AFN using the model equation above

2      Fill in the blanks in the table above.

3.     Write a paragraph on findings or conclusion after your perform the algorithmic modelling

In: Accounting

Suppose Elon Musk has an existing business making electric bicycles. Sales are so strong that he...

Suppose Elon Musk has an existing business making electric bicycles. Sales are so strong that he is considering selling his existing factory and replacing it with a new factory.   Assuming the following, what is the NPV of the project and is it financially worthwhile? (12 points available; 9                                                    points gets full credit toward final score)

a. The current factory can be sold for $200mm; it has a tax value of $100mm. The current factory produces annual after tax cash flow of $50mm.   Elon believe that after six years from now, the existing factory would have a resale value of $10mm which would also be its tax value.

b. A new bicycle factory can be built for $500mm and equipment will cost $400mm plus installation costs of $100mm. Assume the plant and equipment can be built and operational on day one.

c. Expect incremental working capital needs (starting on day one) of $50mm of Accounts Receivable and $75mm of Inventory; expect an incremental $25mm of Accounts Payable.

d. He initially projects after-tax cash flows of $275mm per year for eight years occurring on the last day of each year, starting at the end of year one and finishing after eight years of operations. This cash flow is for the new project alone (remember you are no longer going to have the cash flow from the current factory if you do the new project)

e. Now assume that after six years, Elon gets bored and liquidates the business. Assume the working capital is liquidated and the PP&E is sold for $200mm (assume it had been depreciated to $150mm.

f. Assume a tax rate of 30% and a cost of capital is 17%.

g. For an optional extra 2 points (potentially 14 total points for this problem 12), what is the IRR of the project?

In: Finance

MaxiCare Corporation, a not-for-profit organization, specializes in health care for senior citizens. Management is considering whether...

MaxiCare Corporation, a not-for-profit organization, specializes in health care for senior citizens. Management is considering whether to expand operations by opening a new chain of care centers in the inner city of large metropolitan areas. For a new facility, initial cash outlays for lease, renovations, net working capital, training, and other costs are expected to be about $19 million. The corporation expects the cash inflows of each new facility in its first year of operation to equal the initial investment outlay for the facility. Net cash inflows are expected to increase to $3.0 million in each of years 2 and 3; $2.5 million in year 4; and $3.0 million in each of years 5 through 10. The lease agreement for the facility will expire at the end of year 10, and MaxiCare expects the cost to close a facility will pretty much exhaust all cash proceeds from the disposal. Cost of capital for MaxiCare is estimated as 12%. Assume that all cash flows occur at year end.

Required:

1. Compute (using the built-in NPV function in Excel) the net present value (NPV) the proposed investment. (Negative amount should be indicated by a minus sign. Enter your answer in whole dollars, not in millions, rounded to nearest whole dollar.)

2. Compute (using the built-in IRR function in Excel) the internal rate of return (IRR) for the proposed investment. (Round your final answer 2 decimal places. (i.e. .1234 = 12.34%))

3. What is the breakeven selling price for this investment, that is, the price that would yield an NPV of $0? (Use the Goal Seek function in Excel to determine the breakeven selling price. The following online tutorial may be helpful to you: Goal Seek Tutorial.) (Enter your answer in whole dollars, not in millions, rounded to nearest whole dollar.)


In: Accounting

Samuelson and Messenger (SAM) began 2021 with 250 units of its one product. These units were...

Samuelson and Messenger (SAM) began 2021 with 250 units of its one product. These units were purchased near the end of 2020 for $24 each. During the month of January, 125 units were purchased on January 8 for $27 each and another 250 units were purchased on January 19 for $29 each. Sales of 170 units and 130 units were made on January 10 and January 25, respectively. There were 325 units on hand at the end of the month. SAM uses a perpetual inventory system.

Required:
1. Complete the below table to calculate ending inventory and cost of goods sold for January using FIFO.
2. Complete the below table to calculate ending inventory and cost of goods sold for January using average cost.
  

Perpetual FIFO Cost of Goods Available for Sale Cost of Goods Sold - January 10 Cost of Goods Sold - January 25 Inventory Balance
# of units Cost per unit Cost of Goods Available for Sale # of units sold Cost per unit Cost of Goods Sold # of units sold Cost per unit Cost of Goods Sold # of units in ending inventory Cost per unit Ending Inventory
Beg. Inventory 250 $24.00 $6,000 $24.00 $0 $24.00 $0 $24.00 $0
Purchases:
January 8 125 27.00 3,375 27.00 0 27.00 0 27.00 0
January 19 250 29.00 7,250 29.00 0 29.00 0 29.00 0
Total 625 $16,625 0 $0 0 $0 0

In: Accounting

Database You have just started a new position on the database design staff at Gizmonic Consultants,...

Database

You have just started a new position on the database design staff at Gizmonic Consultants, Inc.

Your first project is to translate the database requirements for Continental Hotels into an ER representation. In the next project, you will derive a relational schema from an ER diagram and implement the schema, populate it, and query over it.

Requirements:

Develop an ERD to capture the entities and relationships specified in the requirements documentation below. Use only the conventions covered in class.

  1. Show keys [partial keys] for each entity [weak entity].
  2. Give cardinality (1:1, 1:m, m:n) and participation constraints (partial, total) for each binary relationship.
  3. Your whole ERD should not be more than one page in length, although you can show complete attributes in a separate diagram and just keys/partial keys on the main diagram.
  4. You should have at least 4 entities and you may have quite a few relationships between them.
  5. Keep a list of assumptions that represent any modeling decisions you have to make.
    • Your assumptions should not contradict any information given in the requirements, and you should strive to make as few additional assumptions as possible.
    • Anything you model that is not explicitly stated in the requirements should be stated in your assumptions.

Phase 2

  1. Submit one well-formed, consensus ER diagram using Dia with the ER sheet that satisfies the requirements
  2. A list of your design decisions (any additional assumptions beyond what is given explicitly in the problem). Organize your assumptions in 3 categories:
    1. related to primary keys,
    2. related to cardinality/participation constraints for relationships, and
    3. miscellaneous (anything else).
  3. Translation of the team ERD into RDB tables using the algorithm and conventions

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Continental Hotels Requirements

  • General Description

Continental Hotels is a chain of hotels that operates in several cities. There are currently 10 locations, and each hotel has about 100 guest rooms. The rooms are normally 80% occupied, with an average length of stay of three days. The hotels are frequented by both business travelers and vacationers. The chain is expanding to additional locations. The current guestroom reservation system is slow and unreliable and a new system is needed to handle reservations and associated guest billing.

  • Basic Operations

Guests normally use the chain’s website to make a room reservation, supplying the dates requested, the number of guests, the number of rooms needed, and the area desired. The site shows the locations that have availability for the dates requested that are in the desired area. The user then chooses a location and a summary of the available rooms for that site is displayed, showing a brief description of the room type and the standard rate for each available room. Locations have unique names like “Columbus Downtown” and “Cincinnati North.”

The user can see a more detailed description of each room by clicking on a button. The user has the option to request a special rate due to membership in a group, military status, or age. The list of available rooms and their cost is updated to reflect the discounted price, if any. The chain also offers a rewards program for frequent guests. The website allows the user to enter or retrieve his or her membership number and password, and the site displays the number of rewards points the user has accumulated.

Whether the user belongs to the rewards program or not, he or she can reserve up to three rooms, and must choose a room type and accept the cost for each one from the list displayed, as well as entering the number of the proposed occupants and any special requests for each room, from a menu of special requests. The customer provides a credit card number to guarantee the reservation, and may choose to use some or all of his or her rewards points, if any, towards the cost of the rooms.

At the conclusion of the process, a confirmation number is assigned for the reservation. If a customer prefers, this same process can be done by telephone or even by mail.

A customer can cancel a reservation up to the day before he or she is due to check in with no penalty. If the customer does not cancel and is a no-show, the room cost(s) for one day will be charged to the credit card account provided in the reservation. A fictitious room number (-1) is used for this purpose. In addition to reservations, the hotel can accommodate walk-in guests, provided there are rooms available. In that case the customer information is taken, and a reservation is made for the same day for the period desired. Guests can also extend their stays past the reserved date, provided there are rooms available. The ending date of the current reservation is updated accordingly.

When a guest checks in with or without a reservation, guest IDs are checked, rooms are assigned, and an imprint of the credit card that will be used for billing is taken. If separate bills are requested for rooms at check-in, additional credit card imprints are taken, and basic information about the credit card holder, who is now considered the customer holding a reservation for that room, is taken. Miscellaneous charges for such items as room service, meals in the hotel restaurants or coffee shop, movie rentals, and telephone calls, as well as the basic room charges, will be billed to the credit card account for each associated room. Guests can access their room account information to see a summary of the charges for each room each day. At the end of the stay, guests are requested to fill out an evaluation form for each room, either on paper or online.

  • Information Needs

Some of the reports that the system should be able to produce include the following, for each of the hotels in the chain:

Guest Bill – This should include, for each room:

Invoice number, room number, guest name, guest address, guest telephone, credit card number, number of persons. For each day of the stay, it should show the date, room charge, room tax, and a list of additional charges - room service charges (date, time, amount), hotel restaurant charges (restaurant name, date, time, amount), telephone charges (date, number called, length, cost) and any other items. At the end of the bill, the total charges, any discount for rewards points, and the total paid or charged to the credit card are given. If additional charges are found once the guest has checked out, a revised bill is prepared and sent to the guest.

Weekly Room Utilization Report – This report is normally produced at the end of each week, showing the utilization of rooms during the week. Note that some of the hotel’s guest rooms may not be available for rental because of damages, renovations, or other reasons. For each day, the report shows date, number of rooms available to be rented, number occupied, number unoccupied, number of rooms reserved, number of no-shows, number of walk-ins.

At the bottom of the report, the totals of each of these numbers for the week is shown.

Housekeeping Daily Room Requests Report – A report is created daily showing any special requests for guests who are checking in that day or who are already registered that must be filled by the housekeeping staff, such as extra pillows, rollaway beds, and so forth.

Daily Checkout Report - The report lists the rooms that will be vacated that day so that the housekeeping staff can prepare them for new guests after current guests depart.

  • Query Checklist

□ List all the hotels (names) in the Cincinnati area.

□ List all the areas that do not have a hotel with a room with the type “queen size, handicapped accessible.”

□   List names of guests who watched the movie “Buckaroo Banzai” at any hotel.

□   List names of guests who were charged for a no-show reservation and who have a rewards membership.

□   List the sum of all miscellaneous charges by guest name and room number at the “Downtown Columbus” hotel in June 2019.

In: Computer Science

The EPA is considering an application from the state of Colorado for a large dam project...

  1. The EPA is considering an application from the state of Colorado for a large dam project on the Colorado River. The basic costs and benefits of the project (in inflation-adjusted dollar values) are as follows:

Costs

$900 million/year first three years

Construction costs:

Operating costs:

$80 million/year

Agricultural product lost from flooded lands:

$65 million/year

Forest products lost from flooded lands:

$40 million/year

Benefits

Revenues from Power Generation

Hydropower generated:

4 billion Kilowatt hours/year

Price of electricity:

$0.125/Kilowatt hour

Revenues from Irrigation Services

Irrigation water available from the dam:

200K Acre-Feet

Price of water:

$700/Acre-Foot

  1. Do a formal Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) using the quantifiable factors listed above. Assume that the operating lifespan of the dam is 30 years. Assume construction begins in year 1. All other impacts start when the dam is completed (at the beginning of Year 4) and continue for 30 years, which implies the full lifespan for the project is 33 years.
  2. Using the same parameters and results from part (a.), adjust the interest rate to determine the level of discounting necessary to just break even. (Hint: I would start by changing the interest rate in 1% increments and then refine the changes as you get close to the break-even point.) What does this increase or decrease in interest rate imply about the relationship between costs and benefits over time?
  3. Finally, holding constant the analysis you did in part (c.) what happens when you increase the acre-foot price of irrigation water from $700 to $1500 and/or the price per kilowatt hour of electricity from $0.125 to $0.15?

In: Finance

How likely do you think it is that self-service will become the dominant mode of customer...

How likely do you think it is that self-service will become the dominant mode of customer problem resolution in the near or distant future? Support your answer with facts and examples from the text.

In: Economics

What are the different methods used to show a function is equal to its Taylor series...

What are the different methods used to show a function is equal to its Taylor series near its center. In particular discuss Taylor’s inequality and how it can be used. Give a detailed example.

In: Math