Question 1 Accounting for Equity
Sugar Ltd was involved in the following transactions during 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 financial period.
Required:
Provide journal entries to record the above transactions for 2019/2020 financial year. (Narrations are required)
In: Accounting
1. A consumer buys a television made by XYZ company from Town
Electronics. The
consumer hosts a party to watch a football game. The TV explodes,
injuries the consumer (who
becomes paralyzed from the neck down), guests and damages the
house. The consumer’s wife is
not injured. Describe what tort suits may be brought, by whom, on
what theories and the
damages that may be sought and from whom?
2. John is a 41 year old white male who works for NewCo. His
female boss, a 38 year-old
female Vice President named Mary, has tried to seduce John several
times, but John has rebuffed
her advances. Although everyone in the company gets a 3 percent
raise, Mary gives John only a
1 percent raise, telling him that “you know what you need to do to
get a bigger raise.” John
complains to the President of NewCo, who tells John to “don’t be an
old fart, do what you need
to do to get ahead in this company.” John says he will not, and the
next day, he is fired and is
replaced by a 38 year old man who John later learns slept with Mary
and got a raise the next day.
What claims does John have against NewCo? Please make reference to
the appropriate statutes
by name.
In: Operations Management
Case 2: You are an expert who deals with the transactions related to provisions, contingent assets, contingent liabilities and intangible assets. For each of the scenario mentioned below provide with an appropriate solution with accounting treatment, calculations and necessary comments: (4 x 2.5 marks each = 10 marks) 1. The company is sued for contributing to water pollution for RO 1.5 million and it believes that it will have to pay this amount in full. It will also have to pay RO 200,000 for making changes to its production plant to avoid any further legal action. 2. The company also has to rectify a serious fault in a piece of equipment that it had sold to a customer. The individual most likely outcome is that the repair will succeed at the first attempt at a cost of RO 30,000, but there is a chance that a further attempt will be necessary, increasing the total cost to RO 35,000. 3. The company owns various franchises that amounts to RO 100,000 on the balance sheet date. They all are currently held at cost. The company has decided to revalue only half of its franchise and remaining will be shown at cost. 4. The company also recently has bought a patent for RO 60,000 for a seasonal product. It is estimated that it will be valid for 20,000 units over its useful life. No residual value is anticipated. Around 5,000 units were tested by the end of the current year.
In: Accounting
SINGAPORE'S status as a key commodities trading hub for Asia has come under the spotlight in the wake of recent failures among big names in this sphere.
The collapse of Singapore's Hin Leong Trading - part of a sprawling empire with businesses ranging from oil trading, terminalling and storage, sea transportation and bunker supply - has rocked the city state's tight-knit oil community. Much of this is unfolding as a result of an unprecedented crash in oil prices amid demand destruction and the ensuing supply glut triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Over 20 banks, including Singapore's three banking stalwarts, are exposed to Hin Leong Trading which has a hefty US$4 billion debt pile. The giant trader founded by low-key tycoon Lim Oon Kuin ran out of cash as margin calls ratcheted up and lenders pulled the plug on credit facilities after oil prices tanked. The trader and sister company Ocean Tankers - the region's largest owner of oil tankers - are seeking to be placed under judicial management (JM) and are currently under interim judicial managers.
There appears to be more to the story. Court documents reveal that the trader hid US$800 million losses from futures trading from its financial statements and sold cargoes that were collateral for loans. Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department is probing the trading firm.
The oil slump is throwing up more casualties.
Earlier, palm oil and coal mining firm Agritrade International buckled under severe strain after a unit defaulted on its loan. The company is also mired in fraud allegations by lenders after debt defaults. Hontop Energy (Singapore) - the trading arm of a Shandong-based refiner - fell into receivership, citing falling demand due to the pandemic as a culprit for its financial woes.
Singapore-based oil trader ZenRock Commodities Trading has also hit troubled waters. Reports say lender HSBC is seeking to place the firm under JM while Bloomberg reported that Singapore police raided its office following allegations of "dishonest" transactions by the lender.
These latest cases call to mind another episode that had sent the sector reeling - the collapse in 2018 of another giant commodities firm Noble Group, mired in a big accounting scandal.
Apart from underscoring the tensions that erupt between banks and traders when the sector goes belly up in a crisis, these episodes suggest weak business practices in the industry. Also, are many of these businesses facing cash woes as a result of having overextended during the boom? These fault lines are easy to disregard in the good times but tend to show up when the environment sours. It also begs another question: Are such weak business practices more widespread than have come to light?
As Asia's share of global commodity production and consumption rose in recent decades, Singapore - strategically located in one of the busiest sea routes and led by a sophisticated and business-friendly regulatory structure - quickly turned into a prominent hub, drawing some of the world's biggest trading names. It is imperative for the city state to be watchful - perhaps even tighten regulatory gaps where any exist - to guard its well-fought achievements as a multi-faceted business hub.
(a) Appraise any four (4) risks that participants in commodity trading face.
In: Finance
Introduction
Aaron and Dee are the two newest US-based coordinators hired by the Academic Leadership Center (ALC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Their primary task is to help the ALC identify credentialed female lecturers and presenters from the United States to participate in training workshops and leadership forums for aspiring faculty in the KSA higher education system. However, the current political climate is creating some cross-cultural differences and personal assumptions about the venue that are making it difficult for them to find speakers willing to consider the opportunity.
Background on KSA Higher Education
The KSA has long been established as an oil country, and much of their economy is driven by the production and sale of oil, making it a commodity-based economy. Realizing that the long-term sustainability of this model would eventually put the Kingdom in potential jeopardy, King Abdullah created a vision for the country that centered on moving the nation to a knowledge-based economy. The 2007 King Abdullah Project for General Education Development was a $3.1 billion project (Asharq Al-Awsat, 2007). His successor, King Salman, supported King Abdullah’s vision and propelled it forward with the nation’s blueprint for growth, which he characterized as a “pioneering and successful global model of excellence” (Saudi Gazette, 2016, para. 1) in Saudi Vision 2030 – the country’s plan for the future. The themes of the vision are: (a) an ambitious nation; (b) a vibrant community; and (c) a thriving economy (Saudi Gazette, 2016, para 20). With a new focus on a knowledge-based economy, King Abdullah turned his attention to education in KSA. Two significant factors were at play. First, the physical structure of institutions of higher education were expanded and upgraded. Most of these institutions were constructed with separate but equal campuses for women. And second, the establishment in 2005 of a national scholarship to educate Saudi men and women at Western universities. By 2007, approximately 5,000 students took advantage of the scholarship in the US (General Authority for Statistics [KSA], n.d.) and 89,423 by 2014 (World Education News & Reviews, 2014). The modern higher education system in the KSA is relatively new; in fact, only three institutions of higher learning are more than 50 years old. And, about 63% of the public universities were created in the past 15 years (Global Penn State, n.d). In 2008, the KSA housed 24 government-supported institutions of higher education (not counting institutes), and by 2017, that number grew to 37 (Buller, n.d). With the onset and growth of colleges and universities within the KSA came a need for training. Within the KSA, law prohibits expatriates from holding key positions such as Dean or Vice President (Vice Rector). These government-sponsored positions must be held by Saudi nationals. Clearly, with the rapid growth of campuses across the nation, those individuals moving into such positions from the faculty ranks needed to have resources for professional development and training in the business of higher education administration. In 2009, the Ministry of Higher Education (now, the Ministry of Education), sponsored the development of a newly formed ALC, modeled largely off the American Council on Education and Universities of the United Kingdom. The ALC was spearheaded by a team of leaders at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, in Dhahran, under the leadership of His Excellency, Dr. Khaled S. Al-Sultan. The vision of the ALC was “to be a leading centre in the region for the advancement of leadership in higher education institutions” (Smith & Abouammoh, 2013, p. 40). The early programs of the ALC focused on such topics as: The Essential Academic Leader; Introduction to Academic Leadership; Advancing Undergraduate Education through Best Practices in Teaching and Learning; and Advancing Professional Development through Best Practices in Leadership and Administration. Today, the services of the ALC have grown to include: training and consultation to potential leaders of higher education; direct consultation service to sitting university leaders; an emerging national faculty mentorship program (spearheaded by the only full-time Western ALC female faculty development trainer); research studies related to KSA higher education; a training-thetrainer program; and full-blown leadership forums and symposia, of which the first was for women (on which the male forum was modeled).
Background on Women in the KSA
The KSA remains an enigma in terms of women in society. Ask women there how they feel, and you will get mixed answers. Many want the right to drive a car, while others say, “Why would I want to do that, when I have my own driver? Wouldn’t you want someone to help you load your strollers and groceries and pick you up at the front door in the rain wherever you are shopping?” They have a point. Some women are angered when Western women judge them as oppressed. This is a mistake often made in the midst of conversations – one to be avoided. Tribal values are very much revered and regarded, and many Saudi women see those values as part of their heritage. Western ways are exactly that – the ways of Westerners.
Interestingly, however, as the world’s most gender-segregated nation, there are changes underway. The social–political landscape is slowly shifting. In just 2015, women gained the right to vote; and, in 2013, King Abdullah appointed 30 women to sit on the high Shura Council (formally called the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia), the governing body that advises the King. Amid these changes, however, limits are real. Under the conservative Islamic state, for example, women still have male guardianship. This guardianship dictates if women can open a bank account, travel, get married, work, or have access to healthcare. In addition, women are not allowed to try on clothing in the mall. They must make purchases and take them with them. Disrobing in public, even behind closed doors, is a great risk. You may remember that when the KSA sent its first female athletes to the London Olympics, critics denounced the competitors as prostitutes. So, yes – women still face limits to their freedom in the KSA.
While these limits seem far removed from what one experiences in the United States and other Western cultures, there are certain outcomes we can only dream about. For example, women in the KSA are paid the same wage for the same work as their male counterparts. Additionally, women are given more rights in terms of family and monetary support. Unlike years of back payment in child support in the United States, such an outcome does not happen in the KSA. The law demands women and children are provided for by men, and men are held to that with unwavering expectations. And, just like men, women are educated for free by the government.
Before 1960, there was no public form of education for women in the KSA (Al-Rawaf & Simmons, 1991). In 1970, 795 men and 13 women graduated from a university in the KSA compared to 21,229 men and 21,721 women in 1999 (Baki, 2004). In 2015, the number of women enrolled in higher education for a bachelor’s degree was estimated to be 551,000 compared to 513,000 men (Saudi Gazette, 2015).
Shortly after its beginning, the ALC strategically hired Byron, a male US coordinator, to work for the Center. Byron’s job is to recruit speakers for the various programs, help identify the yearly agenda of workshop topics, and develop curriculum to be delivered during the seminars. Byron was responsible for recruiting both the men and women facilitators for the workshops.
In 2015, the ALC hired an additional male coordinator from the US, Aaron, to assist with the development and strategy of new emerging programs. And, shortly thereafter, the first US female ALC coordinator, Dee, was hired. Aaron and Dee worked together on the new programming to include the first ever national women’s leadership forum held in Riyadh.
Together, Aaron and Dee began working on identifying women to speak at the programs. Often, the ALC desires speakers from well-known top-ranked US universities. And, the women need to have strong backgrounds in academic administration, teaching, and leadership. Practitioners are preferred to theorists, and most need to have served at the level of Dean, or higher. Prior to each workshop or forum, Dee and Aaron schedule a conference call to begin brainstorming about identifying women who might be a good fit for the topics being covered, in addition to the other criteria just mentioned. Usually, a list of anywhere between four to 10 women are identified. For a traditional workshop, only two women are required to participate as facilitators, but for a forum, the number ranges anywhere from four to six. Because the women must have approximately one week of availability in order to attend, many promising candidates are unavailable. After the recruiting calls are made, the list of potential candidates quickly dwindles, and often, a new list needs to be generated.
The workshops are two days long, and the two speakers rotate their groups in a single city so that each group gets eight sessions over the course of the two days. When the two days are over, the presenters move to another city for another two-day workshop. The on-the-ground time is usually five days – four workshop days and one travel day between workshops. Two additional travel days are required to get back and forth from country to country. A forum has a much broader range of activity, hence, the need for more presenters. The forum usually consists of an opening session, a panel discussion with the presenters, a case study across the four days, and a more traditional workshop setting, including different topical sessions presented by the lecturers. The case study is assigned to groups, and they work during the evenings to present case findings during the final day of the forum.
After this initial inquiry, the candidates typically respond in one of two ways. The first is that the individual being recruited simply indicates she has no interest in traveling to the Middle East. The other typical response is that the individual is interested, but has concerns about going. At this point, Aaron and Dee have their work cut out for them, particularly if Aaron (as a man) is trying to explain to the woman what the experience is like. Remember, in the KSA, women still cannot drive, must be vigilant about not entering spaces occupied by men (such as elevators and airports or restaurants’ seating areas), and must wear the traditional coverings to include the abaya (body) and hijab (head). The stigma associated with these diverse viewpoints is often difficult to overcome in the recruiting process; however, for women who can tolerate these constraints, the international experience gained is invaluable.
Furthermore, as might be imagined, the media depiction of the Middle East does not inspire women to want to travel there. Often, there is just an initial divergence in terms of personal beliefs, since many high-powered higher education female leaders have gotten where they are because of their strong advocacy for women’s rights and their own determination to not be a victim of the proverbial old boys’ network.
Once the candidate agrees to participate, she is nominated to the ALC, and her qualifications are vetted by a committee. Sometimes, the candidate is not accepted, and Aaron or Dee must go back to the drawing board to find another candidate from an already slim list of potential candidates.
Identifying women who would be good candidates as speakers for a workshop or forum in the Middle East is challenging. The recruiter must have a deep “Rolodex” and find appropriate candidates to meet the criteria of the ALC in terms of home institution, position and experience.
Once the list is generated, the challenge remains to engage interest on the part of the lecturer. However, the work is gratifying, advances women in global higher education, and offers an opportunity to advance one’s professional international résumé – often a game changer in being selected for high-powered positions in the hiring process. Frequently, the women who are interested in possibly attending are torn about whether to go. They have hesitations because of personal belief systems and pre-conceived notions about the Middle East as depicted by the media.
Questions
1. Discuss the pros and cons of having Aaron and Dee, two Americans, to be the recruiters of the faculty trainer position in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Apply trait approach and dynamic approach in your analysis.
In: Operations Management
Introduction
Aaron and Dee are the two newest US-based coordinators hired by the Academic Leadership Center (ALC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Their primary task is to help the ALC identify credentialed female lecturers and presenters from the United States to participate in training workshops and leadership forums for aspiring faculty in the KSA higher education system. However, the current political climate is creating some cross-cultural differences and personal assumptions about the venue that are making it difficult for them to find speakers willing to consider the opportunity.
Background on KSA Higher Education
The KSA has long been established as an oil country, and much of their economy is driven by the production and sale of oil, making it a commodity-based economy. Realizing that the long-term sustainability of this model would eventually put the Kingdom in potential jeopardy, King Abdullah created a vision for the country that centered on moving the nation to a knowledge-based economy. The 2007 King Abdullah Project for General Education Development was a $3.1 billion project (Asharq Al-Awsat, 2007). His successor, King Salman, supported King Abdullah’s vision and propelled it forward with the nation’s blueprint for growth, which he characterized as a “pioneering and successful global model of excellence” (Saudi Gazette, 2016, para. 1) in Saudi Vision 2030 – the country’s plan for the future. The themes of the vision are: (a) an ambitious nation; (b) a vibrant community; and (c) a thriving economy (Saudi Gazette, 2016, para 20). With a new focus on a knowledge-based economy, King Abdullah turned his attention to education in KSA. Two significant factors were at play. First, the physical structure of institutions of higher education were expanded and upgraded. Most of these institutions were constructed with separate but equal campuses for women. And second, the establishment in 2005 of a national scholarship to educate Saudi men and women at Western universities. By 2007, approximately 5,000 students took advantage of the scholarship in the US (General Authority for Statistics [KSA], n.d.) and 89,423 by 2014 (World Education News & Reviews, 2014). The modern higher education system in the KSA is relatively new; in fact, only three institutions of higher learning are more than 50 years old. And, about 63% of the public universities were created in the past 15 years (Global Penn State, n.d). In 2008, the KSA housed 24 government-supported institutions of higher education (not counting institutes), and by 2017, that number grew to 37 (Buller, n.d). With the onset and growth of colleges and universities within the KSA came a need for training. Within the KSA, law prohibits expatriates from holding key positions such as Dean or Vice President (Vice Rector). These government-sponsored positions must be held by Saudi nationals. Clearly, with the rapid growth of campuses across the nation, those individuals moving into such positions from the faculty ranks needed to have resources for professional development and training in the business of higher education administration. In 2009, the Ministry of Higher Education (now, the Ministry of Education), sponsored the development of a newly formed ALC, modeled largely off the American Council on Education and Universities of the United Kingdom. The ALC was spearheaded by a team of leaders at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, in Dhahran, under the leadership of His Excellency, Dr. Khaled S. Al-Sultan. The vision of the ALC was “to be a leading centre in the region for the advancement of leadership in higher education institutions” (Smith & Abouammoh, 2013, p. 40). The early programs of the ALC focused on such topics as: The Essential Academic Leader; Introduction to Academic Leadership; Advancing Undergraduate Education through Best Practices in Teaching and Learning; and Advancing Professional Development through Best Practices in Leadership and Administration. Today, the services of the ALC have grown to include: training and consultation to potential leaders of higher education; direct consultation service to sitting university leaders; an emerging national faculty mentorship program (spearheaded by the only full-time Western ALC female faculty development trainer); research studies related to KSA higher education; a training-thetrainer program; and full-blown leadership forums and symposia, of which the first was for women (on which the male forum was modeled).
Background on Women in the KSA
The KSA remains an enigma in terms of women in society. Ask women there how they feel, and you will get mixed answers. Many want the right to drive a car, while others say, “Why would I want to do that, when I have my own driver? Wouldn’t you want someone to help you load your strollers and groceries and pick you up at the front door in the rain wherever you are shopping?” They have a point. Some women are angered when Western women judge them as oppressed. This is a mistake often made in the midst of conversations – one to be avoided. Tribal values are very much revered and regarded, and many Saudi women see those values as part of their heritage. Western ways are exactly that – the ways of Westerners.
Interestingly, however, as the world’s most gender-segregated nation, there are changes underway. The social–political landscape is slowly shifting. In just 2015, women gained the right to vote; and, in 2013, King Abdullah appointed 30 women to sit on the high Shura Council (formally called the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia), the governing body that advises the King. Amid these changes, however, limits are real. Under the conservative Islamic state, for example, women still have male guardianship. This guardianship dictates if women can open a bank account, travel, get married, work, or have access to healthcare. In addition, women are not allowed to try on clothing in the mall. They must make purchases and take them with them. Disrobing in public, even behind closed doors, is a great risk. You may remember that when the KSA sent its first female athletes to the London Olympics, critics denounced the competitors as prostitutes. So, yes – women still face limits to their freedom in the KSA.
While these limits seem far removed from what one experiences in the United States and other Western cultures, there are certain outcomes we can only dream about. For example, women in the KSA are paid the same wage for the same work as their male counterparts. Additionally, women are given more rights in terms of family and monetary support. Unlike years of back payment in child support in the United States, such an outcome does not happen in the KSA. The law demands women and children are provided for by men, and men are held to that with unwavering expectations. And, just like men, women are educated for free by the government.
Before 1960, there was no public form of education for women in the KSA (Al-Rawaf & Simmons, 1991). In 1970, 795 men and 13 women graduated from a university in the KSA compared to 21,229 men and 21,721 women in 1999 (Baki, 2004). In 2015, the number of women enrolled in higher education for a bachelor’s degree was estimated to be 551,000 compared to 513,000 men (Saudi Gazette, 2015).
Shortly after its beginning, the ALC strategically hired Byron, a male US coordinator, to work for the Center. Byron’s job is to recruit speakers for the various programs, help identify the yearly agenda of workshop topics, and develop curriculum to be delivered during the seminars. Byron was responsible for recruiting both the men and women facilitators for the workshops.
In 2015, the ALC hired an additional male coordinator from the US, Aaron, to assist with the development and strategy of new emerging programs. And, shortly thereafter, the first US female ALC coordinator, Dee, was hired. Aaron and Dee worked together on the new programming to include the first ever national women’s leadership forum held in Riyadh.
Together, Aaron and Dee began working on identifying women to speak at the programs. Often, the ALC desires speakers from well-known top-ranked US universities. And, the women need to have strong backgrounds in academic administration, teaching, and leadership. Practitioners are preferred to theorists, and most need to have served at the level of Dean, or higher. Prior to each workshop or forum, Dee and Aaron schedule a conference call to begin brainstorming about identifying women who might be a good fit for the topics being covered, in addition to the other criteria just mentioned. Usually, a list of anywhere between four to 10 women are identified. For a traditional workshop, only two women are required to participate as facilitators, but for a forum, the number ranges anywhere from four to six. Because the women must have approximately one week of availability in order to attend, many promising candidates are unavailable. After the recruiting calls are made, the list of potential candidates quickly dwindles, and often, a new list needs to be generated.
The workshops are two days long, and the two speakers rotate their groups in a single city so that each group gets eight sessions over the course of the two days. When the two days are over, the presenters move to another city for another two-day workshop. The on-the-ground time is usually five days – four workshop days and one travel day between workshops. Two additional travel days are required to get back and forth from country to country. A forum has a much broader range of activity, hence, the need for more presenters. The forum usually consists of an opening session, a panel discussion with the presenters, a case study across the four days, and a more traditional workshop setting, including different topical sessions presented by the lecturers. The case study is assigned to groups, and they work during the evenings to present case findings during the final day of the forum.
After this initial inquiry, the candidates typically respond in one of two ways. The first is that the individual being recruited simply indicates she has no interest in traveling to the Middle East. The other typical response is that the individual is interested, but has concerns about going. At this point, Aaron and Dee have their work cut out for them, particularly if Aaron (as a man) is trying to explain to the woman what the experience is like. Remember, in the KSA, women still cannot drive, must be vigilant about not entering spaces occupied by men (such as elevators and airports or restaurants’ seating areas), and must wear the traditional coverings to include the abaya (body) and hijab (head). The stigma associated with these diverse viewpoints is often difficult to overcome in the recruiting process; however, for women who can tolerate these constraints, the international experience gained is invaluable.
Furthermore, as might be imagined, the media depiction of the Middle East does not inspire women to want to travel there. Often, there is just an initial divergence in terms of personal beliefs, since many high-powered higher education female leaders have gotten where they are because of their strong advocacy for women’s rights and their own determination to not be a victim of the proverbial old boys’ network.
Once the candidate agrees to participate, she is nominated to the ALC, and her qualifications are vetted by a committee. Sometimes, the candidate is not accepted, and Aaron or Dee must go back to the drawing board to find another candidate from an already slim list of potential candidates.
Identifying women who would be good candidates as speakers for a workshop or forum in the Middle East is challenging. The recruiter must have a deep “Rolodex” and find appropriate candidates to meet the criteria of the ALC in terms of home institution, position and experience.
Once the list is generated, the challenge remains to engage
interest on the part of the lecturer. However, the work is
gratifying, advances women in global higher education, and offers
an opportunity to advance one’s professional international résumé
– often a game changer in being selected for high-powered positions
in the hiring process. Frequently, the women who are interested in
possibly attending are torn about whether to go. They have
hesitations because of personal belief systems and pre-conceived
notions about the Middle East as depicted by the media.
Question:
Discuss the factors that influence a female employee to accept an overseas assignment like this. What recommendations would you make to ALC to enhance the job performance of the female expatriates working as faculty trainers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?
In: Operations Management
Introduction
Aaron and Dee are the two newest US-based coordinators hired by the Academic Leadership Center (ALC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Their primary task is to help the ALC identify credentialed female lecturers and presenters from the United States to participate in training workshops and leadership forums for aspiring faculty in the KSA higher education system. However, the current political climate is creating some cross-cultural differences and personal assumptions about the venue that are making it difficult for them to find speakers willing to consider the opportunity.
Background on KSA Higher Education
The KSA has long been established as an oil country, and much of their economy is driven by the production and sale of oil, making it a commodity-based economy. Realizing that the long-term sustainability of this model would eventually put the Kingdom in potential jeopardy, King Abdullah created a vision for the country that centered on moving the nation to a knowledge-based economy. The 2007 King Abdullah Project for General Education Development was a $3.1 billion project (Asharq Al-Awsat, 2007). His successor, King Salman, supported King Abdullah’s vision and propelled it forward with the nation’s blueprint for growth, which he characterized as a “pioneering and successful global model of excellence” (Saudi Gazette, 2016, para. 1) in Saudi Vision 2030 – the country’s plan for the future. The themes of the vision are: (a) an ambitious nation; (b) a vibrant community; and (c) a thriving economy (Saudi Gazette, 2016, para 20). With a new focus on a knowledge-based economy, King Abdullah turned his attention to education in KSA. Two significant factors were at play. First, the physical structure of institutions of higher education were expanded and upgraded. Most of these institutions were constructed with separate but equal campuses for women. And second, the establishment in 2005 of a national scholarship to educate Saudi men and women at Western universities. By 2007, approximately 5,000 students took advantage of the scholarship in the US (General Authority for Statistics [KSA], n.d.) and 89,423 by 2014 (World Education News & Reviews, 2014). The modern higher education system in the KSA is relatively new; in fact, only three institutions of higher learning are more than 50 years old. And, about 63% of the public universities were created in the past 15 years (Global Penn State, n.d). In 2008, the KSA housed 24 government-supported institutions of higher education (not counting institutes), and by 2017, that number grew to 37 (Buller, n.d). With the onset and growth of colleges and universities within the KSA came a need for training. Within the KSA, law prohibits expatriates from holding key positions such as Dean or Vice President (Vice Rector). These government-sponsored positions must be held by Saudi nationals. Clearly, with the rapid growth of campuses across the nation, those individuals moving into such positions from the faculty ranks needed to have resources for professional development and training in the business of higher education administration. In 2009, the Ministry of Higher Education (now, the Ministry of Education), sponsored the development of a newly formed ALC, modeled largely off the American Council on Education and Universities of the United Kingdom. The ALC was spearheaded by a team of leaders at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, in Dhahran, under the leadership of His Excellency, Dr. Khaled S. Al-Sultan. The vision of the ALC was “to be a leading centre in the region for the advancement of leadership in higher education institutions” (Smith & Abouammoh, 2013, p. 40). The early programs of the ALC focused on such topics as: The Essential Academic Leader; Introduction to Academic Leadership; Advancing Undergraduate Education through Best Practices in Teaching and Learning; and Advancing Professional Development through Best Practices in Leadership and Administration. Today, the services of the ALC have grown to include: training and consultation to potential leaders of higher education; direct consultation service to sitting university leaders; an emerging national faculty mentorship program (spearheaded by the only full-time Western ALC female faculty development trainer); research studies related to KSA higher education; a training-thetrainer program; and full-blown leadership forums and symposia, of which the first was for women (on which the male forum was modeled).
Background on Women in the KSA
The KSA remains an enigma in terms of women in society. Ask women there how they feel, and you will get mixed answers. Many want the right to drive a car, while others say, “Why would I want to do that, when I have my own driver? Wouldn’t you want someone to help you load your strollers and groceries and pick you up at the front door in the rain wherever you are shopping?” They have a point. Some women are angered when Western women judge them as oppressed. This is a mistake often made in the midst of conversations – one to be avoided. Tribal values are very much revered and regarded, and many Saudi women see those values as part of their heritage. Western ways are exactly that – the ways of Westerners.
Interestingly, however, as the world’s most gender-segregated nation, there are changes underway. The social–political landscape is slowly shifting. In just 2015, women gained the right to vote; and, in 2013, King Abdullah appointed 30 women to sit on the high Shura Council (formally called the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia), the governing body that advises the King. Amid these changes, however, limits are real. Under the conservative Islamic state, for example, women still have male guardianship. This guardianship dictates if women can open a bank account, travel, get married, work, or have access to healthcare. In addition, women are not allowed to try on clothing in the mall. They must make purchases and take them with them. Disrobing in public, even behind closed doors, is a great risk. You may remember that when the KSA sent its first female athletes to the London Olympics, critics denounced the competitors as prostitutes. So, yes – women still face limits to their freedom in the KSA.
While these limits seem far removed from what one experiences in the United States and other Western cultures, there are certain outcomes we can only dream about. For example, women in the KSA are paid the same wage for the same work as their male counterparts. Additionally, women are given more rights in terms of family and monetary support. Unlike years of back payment in child support in the United States, such an outcome does not happen in the KSA. The law demands women and children are provided for by men, and men are held to that with unwavering expectations. And, just like men, women are educated for free by the government.
Before 1960, there was no public form of education for women in the KSA (Al-Rawaf & Simmons, 1991). In 1970, 795 men and 13 women graduated from a university in the KSA compared to 21,229 men and 21,721 women in 1999 (Baki, 2004). In 2015, the number of women enrolled in higher education for a bachelor’s degree was estimated to be 551,000 compared to 513,000 men (Saudi Gazette, 2015).
Shortly after its beginning, the ALC strategically hired Byron, a male US coordinator, to work for the Center. Byron’s job is to recruit speakers for the various programs, help identify the yearly agenda of workshop topics, and develop curriculum to be delivered during the seminars. Byron was responsible for recruiting both the men and women facilitators for the workshops.
In 2015, the ALC hired an additional male coordinator from the US, Aaron, to assist with the development and strategy of new emerging programs. And, shortly thereafter, the first US female ALC coordinator, Dee, was hired. Aaron and Dee worked together on the new programming to include the first ever national women’s leadership forum held in Riyadh.
Together, Aaron and Dee began working on identifying women to speak at the programs. Often, the ALC desires speakers from well-known top-ranked US universities. And, the women need to have strong backgrounds in academic administration, teaching, and leadership. Practitioners are preferred to theorists, and most need to have served at the level of Dean, or higher. Prior to each workshop or forum, Dee and Aaron schedule a conference call to begin brainstorming about identifying women who might be a good fit for the topics being covered, in addition to the other criteria just mentioned. Usually, a list of anywhere between four to 10 women are identified. For a traditional workshop, only two women are required to participate as facilitators, but for a forum, the number ranges anywhere from four to six. Because the women must have approximately one week of availability in order to attend, many promising candidates are unavailable. After the recruiting calls are made, the list of potential candidates quickly dwindles, and often, a new list needs to be generated.
The workshops are two days long, and the two speakers rotate their groups in a single city so that each group gets eight sessions over the course of the two days. When the two days are over, the presenters move to another city for another two-day workshop. The on-the-ground time is usually five days – four workshop days and one travel day between workshops. Two additional travel days are required to get back and forth from country to country. A forum has a much broader range of activity, hence, the need for more presenters. The forum usually consists of an opening session, a panel discussion with the presenters, a case study across the four days, and a more traditional workshop setting, including different topical sessions presented by the lecturers. The case study is assigned to groups, and they work during the evenings to present case findings during the final day of the forum.
After this initial inquiry, the candidates typically respond in one of two ways. The first is that the individual being recruited simply indicates she has no interest in traveling to the Middle East. The other typical response is that the individual is interested, but has concerns about going. At this point, Aaron and Dee have their work cut out for them, particularly if Aaron (as a man) is trying to explain to the woman what the experience is like. Remember, in the KSA, women still cannot drive, must be vigilant about not entering spaces occupied by men (such as elevators and airports or restaurants’ seating areas), and must wear the traditional coverings to include the abaya (body) and hijab (head). The stigma associated with these diverse viewpoints is often difficult to overcome in the recruiting process; however, for women who can tolerate these constraints, the international experience gained is invaluable.
Furthermore, as might be imagined, the media depiction of the Middle East does not inspire women to want to travel there. Often, there is just an initial divergence in terms of personal beliefs, since many high-powered higher education female leaders have gotten where they are because of their strong advocacy for women’s rights and their own determination to not be a victim of the proverbial old boys’ network.
Once the candidate agrees to participate, she is nominated to the ALC, and her qualifications are vetted by a committee. Sometimes, the candidate is not accepted, and Aaron or Dee must go back to the drawing board to find another candidate from an already slim list of potential candidates.
Identifying women who would be good candidates as speakers for a workshop or forum in the Middle East is challenging. The recruiter must have a deep “Rolodex” and find appropriate candidates to meet the criteria of the ALC in terms of home institution, position and experience.
Once the list is generated, the challenge remains to engage interest on the part of the lecturer. However, the work is gratifying, advances women in global higher education, and offers an opportunity to advance one’s professional international résumé – often a game changer in being selected for high-powered positions in the hiring process. Frequently, the women who are interested in possibly attending are torn about whether to go. They have hesitations because of personal belief systems and pre-conceived notions about the Middle East as depicted by the media.
Questions
1. Discuss the pros and cons of having Aaron and Dee, two Americans, to be the recruiters of the faculty trainer position in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Apply trait approach and dynamic approach in your analysis.
2. Discuss the factors that influence a female employee to accept an overseas assignment like this. What recommendations would you make to ALC to enhance the job performance of the female expatriates working as faculty trainers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?
In: Operations Management
Bikes-R-Us Company
The company sponsors a defined benefit plan for its 200 employees. On January 1, 2020, the company’s actuary provided the following information:
Accumulated other comprehensive loss (PSC) $240,000
Pension plan assets (fair value and market-related asset value) 450,000
Accumulated benefit obligation $480,000
Projected benefit obligation $520,000
The average remaining service period for the participating employees is 6 years. All employees are expected to receive benefits under the plan. On December 31, 2020, the actuary calculated that the present value of future benefits earned for employee services rendered in the current year amounted to $62,000; the projected benefit obligation was $620,000; fair value of pension assets was $515,000; the accumulated benefit obligation amounted to $520,000. The expected return on plan assets and the discount dfevrate on the projected benefit obligation were both 6%. The actual return on plan assets is $15,000. The company’s current year’s contribution to the pension plan amounted to $50,000. No benefits were paid during the year.
(a) Determine the components of pension expense that the company would recognize in 2020. (With only one year involved,you need not prepare a worksheet.)
1(b) Prepare the journal entry to record the pension expense and the company’s funding of the pension plan in 2020.
(c) Compute the amount of the 2020 increase/decrease in gains or losses and the amount to be amortized in 2020 and 2021.
(d) Indicate the pension amounts reported in the financial statement as of December 31, 2020.
In: Accounting
Case M23 -- Excellence in Corporate Training
EXCEL Learning, Inc. was founded in 1988 by Dan Robinson, a renowned author and seminar speaker. Dan teamed up with Walt Irwin, also a corporate consultant with skills in business management. Dan developed his book and seminar topics into several marketable training products, which were packaged into 2 and 3 day workshops, including participant workbooks, trainer guides and PowerPoint presentations. Dan’s reputation in the corporate marketplace guaranteed initial acceptance of his training products by corporate clients.
Dan selected Walt, a former CEO, seminar client and old friend as a partner because they shared strong values of customer service and the influence that training can have on empowering one’s workforce. Walt’s role was to create a marketing plan, recruit trainers, and generally run the business. EXCEL launched its business with Walt as President and Dan as Senior Vice President, hiring 10 affiliate consultants as part-time, sub-contractors to deliver training seminars. In a week-long retreat, Walt and Dan oriented the new consultants to all training products and began scheduling seminars with groups from Dan’s client companies. Dan was pleased with Walt’s ability to articulate their shared vision of service and to strongly communicate the need for consistency in operating from this shared vision in all of their training services.
During the first year, Dan and the affiliates had a full schedule and the company was very successful. Walt and Dan wanted to keep the company small, so only a few new affiliates were added to handle additional clients. Walt handled all the scheduling, finances, and supervision of consultants in the field. Dan agreed that Walt would have complete control over hiring and managing client relations – this was made clear during the orientation and subsequent meetings with the consultants. Walt would have phone conversations with each consultant on a regular basis to initiate client contact and to debrief training events, often relating client comments on the consultants’ performance. Often, these conversations would be late in the evening, and usually Walt would have had a few glasses of wine before he made calls. In conversations with consultants, Dan heard about some of these conversations and was concerned. Cheryl, an accomplished trainer and old friend of Dan, related that Walt had been especially harsh with her about a recent training event and client complaint, insisting that she admit fault. She had since had a conversation with the client and the client was satisfied, even requested that she be the lead trainer for another group. As Dan co-trained with other affiliate consultants, he heard stories of similar, late evening conversations and an all-too-consistent pattern of intimidation with consultants. Some of the younger affiliates seemed to actually appreciate the “coaching,” (Rob Sites, for example, stated “Walt is tough, but he has helped me grow to become a better trainer. I appreciate that.” The more experienced consultants, however, were resenting the treatment. Even though the consultants were part-time affiliates and sub-contractors (working a maximum of 100 days per year), Dan wanted them to feel like partners in the business, with considerable control over exercising judgment with clients.
One evening, over dinner, Dan and Walt were discussing business plans and some overseas training requested by a corporate client. Walt recommended a team of consultants to follow Dan who would launch the training series. Dan confronted Walt about his manner with two of those consultants, who had mentioned their treatment from Walt. Walt at first blew off the concern, but then became angry as Dan discussed the potential of losing some of their best consultants. (Walt) “Do you want me to run the business or not? You know you are just too soft to manage these people. I know our clients and I know what they want from the consultants.” Dan agreed, sort of, but asked Walt to trust the consultants a little more. “You know some of our people are very experienced and the clients are not always right.”
Several weeks passed, the training in UK had gone well. Dan had launched the first day’s training and left Cheryl to lead the remaining sessions with two other consultants. Dan and Walt followed the training with a conference call with the VP of European Operations who was very pleased with the results. Then Dan received a call from Cheryl – she was in tears and was announcing her resignation. She had just finished a difficult conversation with Walt the night before where he had raked her over the coals for being too soft with the finance group in London. (Walt) “They didn’t hire us to hold their hands, you know, they hired us to kick butt! You really blew it. “ Dan begged her to calm down and he would talk to Walt. Cheryl said she would not reconsider and thanked Dan for his kindness.
1. Analyze this case using models and principles from Organizational Behavior/Management. Describe the players, their styles/behaviors and relationships. Focus on management and leadership.
2. What is your recommendation to Dan, the primary stakeholder and person responsible for the business? Include your rationale.
In: Operations Management
You are an Audit Senior currently planning the 30 June 20X8 audit of Almond Limited, an Australian-owned company that produces and exports Almond milk to China. The milk is subjected to ultra-high temperature (UHT) pasteurization processing before being packaged in cartons so that it can last six months at ambient temperatures if unopened. At a recent planning meeting with Almond Limited’s senior staff, you obtained the following overview of this year’s operations: Tight checks by Australian custom officials have delayed several shipments of Almond milk. These delays have angered Chinese customers who are threatening to deduct 20% from the amounts owing as compensation for lost production time. Almond Limited’s main competitor, Tasty Milk has taken advantage of this and started supplying to the Chinese market from its New Zealand branch for quicker deliveries and at prices lower than those offered by Almond Limited. One of Almond Limited’s customers, Super Dairy Limited (SDL), is claiming that the latest batch of milk it received was found to have very high levels of carrageenan, a seaweed derivative commonly used as a stabilizer in beverages. The presence of carrageenan has been widely associated with gastrointestinal inflammation. SDL is refusing to pay its account, which is allegedly six months overdue. Almond Limited has claimed to have launched an investigation into the allegations, but as yet not been able to substantiate them. 60% of the suppliers from which Almond Limited sources it’s almonds are owned by US firms, which demand payment in $US prior to the almonds being supplied. In January, Almond Limited upgraded its accounts payable system to a fully integrated package that automatically updates the general ledger when creditor entries are made. Some problems have been experienced with the creditors ledger, which is split into $US and $AUD amounts. In some cases, $US amounts have been recorded as $AUD, resulting in inaccurate creditor balances. Month-end rollovers have also proved problematic, with creditor balances being incorrectly reset to zero at the first of every month. This has required each creditor’s history to be re-entered manually each month, a time-consuming process that is taking accounting staff away from their normal duties. During the period, the Australian dollar has remained steady against the Chinese Yuan, although it fell by about 3% against the US dollar. Debtors are invoiced in $US at the time of shipment, and payment is received in $US one month after the shipment is delivered. It takes around four weeks for the charter vessels to travel from Almond Limited’s shipyard at Dockland Bay to China. A recent downturn in the Chinese economy is affecting forward orders, which have fallen by 15%. A team of internal auditors was hired 10 months ago by Almond Limited to improve on its existing internal control. The process of revamping the internal control has been dragging because the CEO has kept on declining the internal auditors’ suggestions for improvement. The accountant of Almond Limited has been notorious for finding gaps in the legislations in order to make its clients’ financial statements look presentable as desired by the clients themselves. In the past few years, Almond Limited has always been required by the Australian Tax Office to provide additional supporting information after the lodgement of its tax returns.
Required: Prepare a memorandum to the audit manager, outlining your risk assessment relating to Almond Limited. When making your risk assessment:
(a) Identify three (3) key account balances from the information provided that are subjected to an increase in audit risk. Briefly explain what factors increase the audit risk associated with the three (3) accounts identified. In your explanation, please mention the key assertion(s) at risk of material misstatement and the components of the audit risk model affected for each account identified.
(b) Identify how the audit plan will be affected and recommend specific audit procedures to address the risks associated with each account identified.
In: Accounting