Consider the following article from the January 17, 2020 edition of the Wall Street Journal entitled "Morgan Stanley Cuts CEO James Gorman’s Bonus"

Morgan Stanley paid its chief executive, James Gorman, $27 million for his work in 2019, a pay cut for a year when the bank’s revenue hit a record but its shares lagged behind those of rivals.

Mr. Gorman earned about $19 million in Morgan Stanley shares and another roughly $8 million in cash, including salary and bonus, according to a Friday securities filing.

The 61-year-old was already among the highest-paid U.S. bank bosses. His 2018 pay package, worth about $29 million, was topped only by JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s James Dimon, who runs a bank that is three times the size of Morgan Stanley and vastly more complex.

Mr. Gorman earned a base salary of $1.5 million, the same as a year ago; a cash bonus of $6.4 million, down from $6.9 million a year ago; $12.8 million in stock that is linked to how well the bank does over the next few years; and another $6.4 million in shares that he’ll collect regardless of performance.

At the urging of shareholders and regulators, banks since the financial crisis have tied more of their executives’ pay to performance and deferred more of it into the future.

Morgan Stanley in 2019 posted an annual profit of $9 billion on a record $41 billion revenue. Mr. Gorman has delivered on financial metrics he set out to investors, including minimum profitability in its wealth-management division and firmwide return targets. On Thursday, he set new targets—though some analysts said they weren’t ambitious enough.

In setting Mr. Gorman’s pay, the company said that it took into account his long-term strategy and the bank’s “strong financial performance.”

Shares of Morgan Stanley gained 26% in 2019, lagging behind the S&P 500 and most of its big-bank peers. It is off to a stronger start this year, gaining 6.6% Thursday in its biggest single-day gain since the 2016 presidential election.

Who is the agent in this situation? Who are the principals? Use agency theory to explain the motivation behind tying Mr. Gorman's pay to performance.

In spite of inflation increasing most prices, the price of solar power declining. Also in contrast to fossil fuels, the cost of generating electricity from solar energy is driven by the infrastructure costs instead of the cost of the natural resource. Therefore the costs and prices are more stable, particularly for large-scale electricity generation.

Historically, solar technologies have had high upfront infrastructure costs but low operating costs. The SunShot program launched in 2011 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) seeks to make solar energy economically competitive by 2020. To achieve this goal, the cost of solar power will have to be reduced by roughly 75% relative to 2010 prices. The U.S. DOE has reported that cumulative adoption of solar technologies has increased over tenfold since 2008. It is expected that achieving the price reduction set by the SunShot initiative could lead to solar representing 14% of the electricity demand in the U.S. by 2030 and 27% by 2050.

According to a study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, reported prices of both residential and commercial photovoltaic systems decreased on average from 6% to 12% annually between 1998 and 2014. At the end of 2014, photovoltaic prices ranged from $4.27/W for residential systems with a median installed capacity of 6kW to $2.08/W for utility-scale systems. Costs for utility scale systems are projected to fall $1.00/W to $1.75/W by 2020. It is expected that within the next two decades, the cost of solar technologies will be lower than the costs of conventional fossil fuel electricity technologies. These lower electricity prices can decrease inflation and contribute to increased economic activity and growth.

Interestingly, the deployment of solar technologies continues to increase despite the 2015 plunge in oil prices. Solar was the third most added electricity-generation capacity in 2015, after wind and natural gas. However, the share of solar compared to the total U.S. electricity capacity in 2015 was 2%, while its generation share was only 0.9%. So it remains to be seen if the goal of the SunShot initiative will be met.

1. Deflation decreases the general prices of goods and services and increases purchasing power. How does this differ from the declining price of solar technologies?
2. Currently, most electricity generation in the U.S. is from fossil fuels, including petroleum, coal, and natural gas. In what ways has the 2015 decline in oil prices affected the adoption of solar technologies?
3. Use Internet resources to compare the changes in the prices of renewable energy technologies including wind, solar, and geothermal over the last 5 years. Which of these three technologies has achieved the greatest cost decline during that period?
4. In addition to cost, what are other barriers to the adoption of photovoltaic systems?

Topic: Media activity

Now you are employed as the public relations officer of an information technology company. The company is going to promote a new product at early in November 2020. Being the PR officer, your assignment is to propose a press conference for the promotion of the new product at the end of October 2020.

Your assignment should include:

1. Introduction/background of the company (under 100 words)
2. Brief description of the new product with news value (under 70 words)
3. Illustration of the press conference including the objectives, target audiences and the three stages from preparation to after the event. (about 730 words in essay forms)
4. Conclusion (under 100 words)
5. (Whatever the product is, it must be new and technological)

Sarah, Nicloe and Chance are each 1/3 owners of a company. The company initially was formed as an S Corp but was doing so well that Sarah and Nicole wanted to take the company public. Suppose Chance is a U.S. resident but a French citizen. His mother has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and Chance has decided to move back to France to take care of his mother and her affairs. He anticipates that he will live in France for several years and that he will no longer be considered a U.S. resident. If you were Sarah and Nicole how would you react to Chance's decision to move? Would you ignore the impact that it may have on the S Corporation status? Would you pressure Chance to sell his stock to you?

Provide support, with proper citations, for your response.

Target Corp. is a U.S. corporation. The company wants to expand its business in South America. The CFO has requested you to research, if these following countries has a tax treaty with the United States:

a)      Brazil

b)      Mexico

c)      Argentina

Please explain all these three countries, research if these countries tax dividends, interest, and royalties paid back to the U.S. parent. (Hint: the IRS.gov website and search for country specific treaties will help you.)

Acme, Inc., a multinational company based in the United States, has a large subsidiary located in Beijing, China. Acme is audited by an international accounting firm headquartered in the United States; its subsidiary is audited by the Chinese affiliate of that firm. Under U.S. auditing standards, what responsibilities, if any, does Acme's U.S. audit firm have to supervise or oversee the audit of the Chinese subsidiary? Would these responsibilities be different under International Standards of Auditing?

Max, a single taxpayer, has determined her taxable income is $76,000. She also received interest from an investment in City of Hawkins bonds of $13,000 (municipal bonds), which are considered non-taxable for federal purposes.

(a) Using the U.S. tax rate schedule for year 2020, how much federal tax will Max owe given the above information?

(b) What is her average tax rate?

(c) What is her effective tax rate?

(d) What is her current marginal tax rate?

(e) If Max earned an additional $27,000 of taxable income, what would her marginal tax rate on this additional income only be?

The coronavirus crisis brought the U.S. economy to a halt, and although economic activity has partially resumed, many anticipate a contraction in gross domestic product for 2020 (particularly between April and June). Refer to section 10-3 (The Components of GDP) from our textbook, and explain which of those components you believe is contributing the most to the downturn in economic activity? Is there more than one component that has been particularly hit? Explain your position using proper economic theory as a good foundation for your response, but making sure your own opinion and evaluative remarks stand out (i.e.: your opinion and remarks need to make economic sense!)