Federal funding agencies must form committees to decide which telescope projects will receive funds for construction. When deciding whic projects wil be funded, the committees must consider:

that certain wavelengths of light are blocked from reaching Earth's surface by the atmosphere,

how efficiently telescopes work at different wavlengths, and

that telescopes in space are much more expensive to construct than Earth-based telescopes.

Using these three criteria, consider each pairing of telescope proposals listed below. For each pair, state which of the two you would choose to fund and explain your reasoning.

Pair A)

Project Beta:  An X-ray wavelength telescope, located near the North Pole, which will be used to examine the Sun.

Project Alpha: An infrared wavelength telescope, placed on a satellite in orbit around Earth, which will be used to view supernovae.

Pair B)

Project Rho: A UV wavelength telescope, placed high atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii at 14,000 ft above sea level, which will be used to look at distant galaxies.

Project Sigma: A visible wavelength telescope, placed on a satellite orbit around Earth, which will be used to observe a pair of binary stars located in the constellation Ursa Major.

Pair C)

Project Zeta:  A radio wavelength telescope, placed on the floor of the Mojave Desert, which will be used to detect potential communications from distant civilizations outside our solar system.

Project Epsilon:  An infrared wavelength telescope, located in the high-elevation mountains of Chile, which will be used to view newly forming stars (protostars) in the Orion nebula.

Difficult Transitions Tony had just finished his first week at Hotel Luxury Incorporated and decided to drive upstate to a small lakefront lodge for some fishing and relaxation. Tony had worked for the previous ten years for the Sun Group Company, but Sun Group had been through some hard times of late and had recently shut down several of its operating groups, including Tony’s, to cut costs. Fortunately, Tony’s experience and recommendations had made finding another position fairly easy. As he drove the interstate, he reflected on the past ten years and the apparent situation at Reece. At Sun Group , things had been great. Tony had been part of the team from day one. The job had met his personal goals and expectations perfectly, and Tony believed he had grown greatly as a person. His work was appreciated and recognized; he had received three promotions and many more pay increases. Tony had also liked the company itself. The firm was decentralized, allowing its managers considerable autonomy and freedom. The corporate Culture was easygoing. Communication was open. It seemed that everyone knew what was going on at all times, and if you didn’t know about something, it was easy to find out. The people had been another plus. Tony and three other managers went to lunch often and played golf every Saturday. They got along well both personally and professionally and truly worked together as a team. Their boss had been very supportive, giving them the help they needed but also staying out of the way and letting them work. When word about the shutdown came down, Tony was devastated. He was sure that nothing could replace Sun Group . After the final closing was announced, he spent only a few weeks looking around before he found a comparable position at the Luxury Hotel. As Tony drove, he reflected that "comparable" probably was the wrong word. Indeed, Luxury Hotel and Sun Group were about as different as you could get. Top managers at Luxury Hotel apparently didn’t worry too much about who did a good job and who didn’t. They seemed to promote and reward people based on how long they had been there and how well they played the never-ending political games. Maybe this stemmed from the organization itself, Tony pondered. Luxury Hotel was a bigger organization than Sun Group and was structured much more bureaucratically. It seemed that no one was allowed to make any sort of decision without getting three signatures from higher up. Those signatures, though, were hard to get. All the top managers usually were too busy to see anyone, and interoffice memos apparently had very low priority. Tony also had had some problems fitting in. His peers treated him with polite indifference. He sensed that a couple of them resented that he, an outsider, had been brought right in at their level after they had had to work themselves up the ladder. On Tuesday he had asked two colleagues about playing golf. They had politely declined, saying that they did not play often. But later in the week, he had overheard them making arrangements to play that very Saturday. It was at that point that Tony had decided to go fishing. As he steered his car off the interstate to get gas, he wondered if perhaps he had made a mistake in accepting the Luxury Hotel offer without finding out more about what he was getting into. Case Questions Task 1. Identify several concepts and characteristics from the field of organizational behavior that this case illustrates. Task 2. What advice can you give Tony? How would this advice be supuported or tempered by behavioral concepts and processes?

Assume that a teeth-whitening kit manufacturer wishes to achieve a markup 10% of the total cost.

Assuming that the variable costs per unit is $8.00, fixed costs is $1,000,000.00 and the expected sales is 1,000,000 units, what should be the target return price?

For the same teeth-whitening kit manufacturer, it is observed that when the kit is priced at $10.00 (P1), the quantity demanded is 1,000,000 (Q1). However, when the price is increased to $15.00 (P2), the quantity decreases to 500,000 (Q2).

What is the percentage change in quantity demanded?

What is the percentage change in price?

How much is the price elasticity demand?

Journal entries and financial statements for an Enterprise Fund

The City of Whitt Falls plans to develop a golf course during 2018 and account for it as the Golf Enterprise Fund (GEF). The course will be built on a parcel of land to be purchased from a private party. The planned out-of-pocket costs for the new course and their financing are as follows:

The City plans to sell the bonds on February 1, 2018. Because the bonds are a term issue, bond principal matures in full on February 1, 2028. Interest is payable each August 1 and February 1, beginning August 1, 2018. The bond covenant requires that assets equal to one-tenth of the bond principal be transferred to a restricted account within the GEF on December 31 of each year. Whitt observes a calendar fiscal year.

Simmons Design and Construction, Inc. (Simmons) has been awarded the contract to develop the golf course. Construction will commence February 15, 2018, and be completed no later than May 31, so it can open for business during June. The contract stipulates that progress billings from Simmons will be paid within 30 days of receipt, with 5 percent retainage held pending completion and acceptance of the project. The city engineer will inspect the contractor’s work and approve progress payments.

Accounting for the GEF will be done by the city’s existing accounting department (a General Fund department), which will bill the GEF for services rendered at the end of the year. To help the GEF get on its feet financially, no interfund payables will be settled in cash during 2018.

Prepare (a) journal entries (including closing entries) to record the following events and transactions for the year ended December 31, 2018, in the GEF. The corresponding entries that would be made in other funds are not required. In addition, prepare (b) the statement of net position and (c) the statement of revenues, expenses, and changes in net position for the GEF as of and for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2018.

1. January 3, 2018: Whitt Falls formally established the GEF; the fund’s first transaction was the receipt, in cash, of the capital contribution from the General Fund.

2. January 24: The city acquired the adjacent parcel of land from the private owner for the planned $500,000.

3. February 1: The revenue bonds were sold at par ($3,000,000).

4. February 15: Development of the golf course itself and construction of the clubhouse commenced.

5. March 31: Simmons submitted the first progress billing of $1,800,000. The billing was approved and set up as a construction contracts payable after deducting the 5 percent retainage. (Because of the short duration of the construction period, no construction in progress accounts will be used.) $400,000 of the amount billed represents the cost of sod, sprinklers, landscaping, and fencing (which the city classifies as “improvements other than buildings”). The balance applies to the cost of the clubhouse (“buildings”).

6. April 25: The construction contracts payable currently due Simmons was paid.

7. April 30: The second progress billing from Simmons, $1,500,000, was approved and set up as a construction contracts payable after deducting the 5 percent retainage; $600,000 applies to sod, sprinklers, landscaping, and fencing (which is now fully installed), with the remainder to the clubhouse building.

8. May 19: The construction contracts payable currently due Simmons was paid.

9. May 23: Simmons’ third and final progress billing, $700,000 (all of which represents clubhouse construction costs), was approved and set up as a construction contracts payable after deducting the 5 percent retainage.

10. May 30: The construction contracts payable currently due Simmons was paid.

11. June 1: The new golf course was formally accepted by the City (without need for “touch-up” work), and all remaining amounts due to Simmons were paid.

12. June 1: The City acquired golf course maintenance equipment by entering into a 4-year financing lease. The first lease payment of $50,000 was paid on June 2 when the equipment was delivered. The remaining lease payments of $50,000 each will occur on the first, second, and third anniversary of the first payment. Assume that the interest rate on the lease is 4 percent.

13. June 2: Inventory in the amount of $12,000 was acquired for the pro shop; the purchase created an accounts payable.

14. June 4: The course opened for business. Greens fees (charges for services) aggregated $209,000 for June. Pro shop sales (all for cash) amounted to $5,000.

15. June 30: Expenses for June were as follows. (Charge all expenses to “Operating expenses—cost of sales.”)

16. August 1: The first debt service payment on the revenue bonds was made.

17. December 31: Greens fee revenues for the second half of 2018 totaled $370,000; pro shop sales for the same period were $21,200.

18. December 31: Second-half 2018 expenses were as follows:

19. December 31: Interest was accrued on the revenue bonds.

20. December 31: The GEF recorded depreciation for 2018 as follows:

21. December 31: The GEF recorded amortization on the intangible asset lease of $23,594.

22. December 31: The restricted asset account—Cash restricted for bond principal retirement—was established in accordance with the requirements of the bond covenant.

Notes: 1. If no entry is required for a transaction, select "No entry" as your answers and leave the Debit and Credit answers blank (zero).
2. Round answers to the nearest whole number, when applicable.

Mercury, Inc., produces cell phones at its plant in Texas. In recent years, the company’s market share has been eroded by stiff competition from overseas. Price and product quality are the two key areas in which companies compete in this market.

A year ago, the company’s cell phones had been ranked low in product quality in a consumer survey. Shocked by this result, Jorge Gomez, Mercury’s president, initiated an intense effort to improve product quality. Gomez set up a task force to implement a formal quality improvement program. Included on this task force were representatives from the Engineering, Marketing, Customer Service, Production, and Accounting departments. The broad representation was needed because Gomez believed that this was a companywide program and that all employees should share the responsibility for its success.

After the first meeting of the task force, Holly Elsoe, manager of the Marketing Department, asked John Tran, production manager, what he thought of the proposed program. Tran replied, “I have reservations. Quality is too abstract to be attaching costs to it and then to be holding you and me responsible for cost improvements. I like to work with goals that I can see and count! I’m nervous about having my annual bonus based on a decrease in quality costs; there are too many variables that we have no control over.”

Mercury’s quality improvement program has now been in operation for one year. The company’s most recent quality cost report is shown below.

As they were reviewing the report, Elsoe asked Tran what he now thought of the quality improvement program. Tran replied. “I’m relieved that the new quality improvement program hasn’t hurt our bonuses, but the program has increased the workload in the Production Department. It is true that customer returns are way down, but the cell phones that were returned by customers to retail outlets were rarely sent back to us for rework.”

Required:

1. Expand the company’s quality cost report by showing the costs in both years as percentages of both total production cost and total quality cost. (Round your percentage answers to 1 decimal place (i.e 0.1234 should be entered as 12.3).)

The average annual tuition for a public university in 1998 was $20,598. In 2018, the average annual tuition for a public university is $25,659. How much (as a percentage) has the tuition cost increased over the entire period? State your answer to two decimal places (e.g., 3.86)

Problem 3: A construction firm must obtain a bulldozer to work on a long-term project. There are two options available to the firm – using a loan to purchase the bulldozer for $825,000, and leasing it from the equipment dealer. If the firm decides to purchase, it can finance the entire cost through a commercial bank for 8 years at an interest rate of 7.5% compounded annually. At the end of eight years, the firm will sell the bulldozer for a salvage value of $80,000.   If the firm decides to lease, it will pay the equipment dealer an up-front fee equal to 5% of the purchase price, followed by eight annual payments of $135,000. At the end of the lease, the firm will return the equipment to the dealer. The firm’s required rate of return is 10%.

1. Build an Excel worksheet to model the two options and help the firm decide which to choose. You can ignore depreciation or tax effects in your analysis (i.e., evaluate the options simply based on their respective cash flows).
2. Assuming that the equipment dealer is exactly indifferent between the construction firm purchasing or leasing, what is the dealer’s implied required rate of return? Note: the dealer retains the salvage value if the firm leases.

On January 1, 2018, the Mason Manufacturing Company began construction of a building to be used as its office headquarters. The building was completed on September 30, 2019. Expenditures on the project were as follows: January 1, 2018 $ 1,710,000 March 1, 2018 1,320,000 June 30, 2018 1,520,000 October 1, 2018 1,320,000 January 31, 2019 378,000 April 30, 2019 711,000 August 31, 2019 1,008,000 On January 1, 2018, the company obtained a $4,200,000 construction loan with a 16% interest rate. The loan was outstanding all of 2018 and 2019. The company’s other interest-bearing debt included two long-term notes of $4,000,000 and $6,000,000 with interest rates of 12% and 14%, respectively. Both notes were outstanding during all of 2018 and 2019. Interest is paid annually on all debt. The company’s fiscal year-end is December 31. Required: 1. Calculate the amount of interest that Mason should capitalize in 2018 and 2019 using the specific interest method. 2. What is the total cost of the building? 3. Calculate the amount of interest expense that will appear in the 2018 and 2019 income statements.

On January 1, 2018, the Mason Manufacturing Company began construction of a building to be used as its office headquarters. The building was completed on September 30, 2019.

Expenditures on the project were as follows:

On January 1, 2018, the company obtained a $3,100,000 construction loan with a 12% interest rate. The loan was outstanding all of 2018 and 2019. The company’s other interest-bearing debt included two long-term notes of $4,000,000 and $6,000,000 with interest rates of 8% and 10%, respectively. Both notes were outstanding during all of 2018 and 2019. Interest is paid annually on all debt. The company’s fiscal year-end is December 31.

Required:
1. Calculate the amount of interest that Mason should capitalize in 2018 and 2019 using the specific interest method.
2. What is the total cost of the building?
3. Calculate the amount of interest expense that will appear in the 2018 and 2019 income statements.