*** Please be concise and give full explanation ***

Compare and contrast the protein-first versus RNA-first hypotheses. Which hypothesis has the most supporting evidence?

The production department of Priston Company has submitted the following forecast of units to be produced by quarter for the upcoming fiscal year. 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Units to be produced 5,000 6,000 7,000 4,000 In addition, the beginning raw materials inventory for the 1st Quarter is budgeted to be 1,500 pounds and the beginning accounts payable for the 1st Quarter is budgeted to be $9,500. Each unit requires two pounds of raw material that costs $2.00 per pound. Management desires to end each quarter with a raw materials inventory equal to 15% of the following quarter’s production needs. The desired ending inventory for the 4th Quarter is 3,000 pounds. Management plans to pay for 70% of raw material purchases in the quarter acquired and 30% in the following quarter. Each unit requires 0.5 direct labor-hours and direct labor-hour workers are paid $10 per hour. Required:

1a. Prepare the company’s direct materials budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
You have recently been hired to work in your company’s newly established treasury department. The company is a small company that produces cardboard boxes in a variety of sizes for different purchases. The owner of the company, works primarily in the sales and production areas of the company. Currently, the company puts all receivables in one shoe box and all payables in another. Because of the disorganized system, the finance area needs work – and that’s what you have been brought in to do.
The company currently has a cash balance of $305,000 and it plans to purchase new box-folding machinery in the fourth quarter at a cost of $525,000. The machinery will be purchased with cash because of a discount offered. The company’s policy is to maintain a minimum cash balance of #125,000. All sales and purchases are made on credit.
The owner has projected the following gross sales for each of the next four quarters.

                             Q1                               Q2                          Q3                       Q4

Gross sales $1,310,000 $1,390,000 $1,440,000         $1,530,000

Also, gross sales for the first quarter of the next year are projected at $1,405,000. The company currently has an accounts receivable period of 53 days and an accounts receivable balance of $645,000. 20% of the accounts receivable balance is from a company that has just entered bankruptcy, and it is likely this portion of the accounts receivable will never be collected.
The company typically orders 50% of the next quarter’s projected gross sales in the current quarter, and suppliers are typically paid in 42 days. Wages, taxes and other costs run about 30% of gross sales. The company has a quarterly interest payment of $135,000 on its long tern debt.
The company uses a local bank for its short-term financial needs. It pays 1.5% per quarter on all short-term borrowing and maintains a money market accounts that pays 1% per quarter on all short-term deposits.
You have been asked to prepare a cash budget and short-term financial plan for the company under the current policies. You have also been asked to prepare additional/alternative plans based on changes in several inputs.

Respond to the following questions. Written responses must comprise at least three complete sentences, with proper grammar and punctuation. Cite any referenced materials using APA format. In the Excel spreadsheets provided, all calculations that support your answers must be shown as formulae.
1. Use the numbers given to complete the cash budget and short-tern financial plan in Excel. (Sheet 1)
2. Rework the cash budget and short-term financial plan assuming the minimum balance is changed to $100,000 (Sheet 2)
3. You have looked at the credit policy offered by the competition and determined that the industry standard credit policy is 1/19 net 40. The discount will begin to be offered on the first day of the first quarter. You want to examine how this credit policy would affect the cash budget and short-term financial plan. If this credit policy is implemented, you believe that 40% of all sales will take advantage of it, and the outstanding accounts receivable period will decline to 36 days.
a. Rework the cash budget and short-term financial plan under the new credit policy and a minimum cash balance of $100,000. (Sheet 3)
b. What interest rate are you effectively offering your customers?
4. You have talked to the company’s suppliers about the credit terms that you receive. Currently, the company receives terms of net 45. The suppliers have stated that they would offer new credit terms of 1.5/15, net 40. The discount would begin to be offered on the first day of the first quarter.
a. What interest rate are suppliers offering the company?
b. Rework the cash budget and short-term financial plan assuming you take the offered credit terms on all orders and the minimum cash balance is $100,000. Also assume the company offers the credit terms detailed in Question 3. (Sheet 4)

The quarterly sales data (number of book sold) for Christian book over the past three years in California follow: (You can use Excel to compute the equation)

1. Construct a line graph showing the pattern of Christian book sales. Please make sure ‘time/quarter’ is represented by the horizontal line and ‘quarterly sale’ is represented by the vertical line. What type of pattern exists in the data?

2. Use the following dummy variables to develop an estimated regression equation to account for any seasonal effects in the data: Quarter1=1 if the sales data point is in Quarter 1, otherwise Quarter 1=0; Quarter 2=1 if the sales data point is in Quarter 2, otherwise, Quarter 2=0; Quarter 3=1 if the sales data point is in Quarter 3, otherwise Quarter 3=0. 3.

3. Compute the quarterly forecasts for next year.

4. 4. Let t=1 to refer to the observation in quarter 1 of year 1; t=2 to refer to the observation in quarter 2 of year 1;,,,, and t=12 to refer to the observation in quarter 4 of year 3. Using the dummy variables defined in part (b) and t, develop an estimated regression equation to account for seasonable effects and any linear trend in the time series. Based upon the seasonal effects in the data and linear trend, compute the quarterly forecasts for next year.

21Consumer spending and national income-how are they linked?

22What is a country’s productive capacity?

23Inflation exists when spending exceeds productive capacity-explain

24What tools does the government have to affect total spending in the economy?

When business managers of firms in a competitive market observe falling profits, they are likely to infer that the market is characterised by:

Determine which scenario would NOT call for the Fed to intervene.

• Annual inflation is around 2%.

• Prices are decreasing quickly; real value of the currency is rising.

• The economy is reaching hyperinflation.

• Prices are increasing rapidly; real value of the currency is falling.

Suppose 400 students take an exam and the distribution of their scores can be treated as normal. Find the number of scores falling into each of the following ranges:

(a)   Within 1 standard deviation of the mean.

(b)  Within 2 standard deviations of the mean.

Which of the given is not a requirement for the validity of the chi‑square goodness‑of‑fit test?

1) independent observations

2) all observations falling into one of k outcome classes

3) a fixed number of observations

4) normally distributed data

Calculate the tidal force on a 75 kg person 2 meter height falling into a solar mass black hole just as they cross the event horizon. Compare that to the force of Earth's gravity on that same person (given by their mass multiplied by 9.8).