Questions
Sachs Brands' defined benefit pension plan specifies annual retirement benefits equal to: 1.6% × service years...

Sachs Brands' defined benefit pension plan specifies annual retirement benefits equal to: 1.6% × service years × final year's salary, payable at the end of each year. Angela Davenport was hired by Sachs at the beginning of 2002 and is expected to retire at the end of 2036 after 35 years' service. Her retirement is expected to span 18 years. Davenport's salary is $89,000 at the end of 2016 and the company’s actuary projects her salary to be $275,000 at retirement. The actuary's discount rate is 7%. (FV of $1, PV of $1, FVA of $1, PVA of $1, FVAD of $1 and PVAD of $1) (Use appropriate factor(s) from the tables provided.)

Required:
2.

Estimate by the accumulated benefits approach the amount of Davenport’s annual retirement payments earned as of the end of 2016.

     

3.

What is the company’s accumulated benefit obligation at the end of 2016 with respect to Davenport?

     

4.

If no estimates are changed in the meantime, what will be the company’s accumulated benefit obligation at the end of 2019 (three years later) when Davenport’s salary is $110,000?

     

In: Accounting

Between 20 and 25 violent acts are portrayed per hour on children’s TV. A study by...

Between 20 and 25 violent acts are portrayed per hour on children’s TV. A study by Johnson et al (2002) looked for links between TV viewing and aggression by following the TV viewing habits of children 1-10 years old. Of these, 88 watched < 1 hr TV per day, 386 watched 1-3 hrs and 233 watched > 3 hrs. Eight years later, researchers looked to see if any of the children had records of aggressive assaults on other people. The numbers of children with aggressive assaults were 5, 87 and 67 for each TV category, respectively. The remaining children were not aggressive.

Question 1: Create a contingency table of the results from the study. Carry out an appropriate statistical test to determine whether TV viewing is associated with future violence. What is the conclusion from your test?

Question 2: Do the results of the study prove that TV watching behavior causes increased aggression in children? Why?

In: Statistics and Probability

Year # AIDS cases diagnosed # AIDS deaths Year # AIDS cases diagnosed # AIDS deaths...

Year # AIDS cases diagnosed # AIDS deaths

Year # AIDS cases diagnosed # AIDS deaths
Pre–1981 91 29
1981 319 121
1982 1,170 453
1983 3,076 1,482
1984 6,240 3,466
1985 11,776 6,878
1986 19,032 11,987
1987 28,564 16,162
1988 35,447 20,868
1989 42,674 27,591
1990 48,634 31,335
1991 59,660 36,560
1992 78,530 41,055
1993 78,834 44,730
1994 71,874 49,095
1995 68,505 49,456
1996 59,347 38,510
1997 47,149 20,736
1998 38,393 19,005
1999 25,174 18,454
2000 25,522 17,347
2001 25,643 17,402
2002 26,464 16,371
Total 802,118 489,093

Graph "year" vs. "# AIDS deaths." Do not include pre-1981. Label both axes with words. Scale both axes. Calculate the following. (Round your answers to the nearest whole number. Round the correlation coefficient r to four decimal places.)

a =

b=

r=

n=

In: Statistics and Probability

In some of the recent corporate scandals, senior executives “doctored the books” and misrepresented the corporate...

In some of the recent corporate scandals, senior executives “doctored the books” and misrepresented the corporate financial status of the company. In others, transactions were created to and from inert or false companies to enhance the bottom line. All of these actions required some intervention and dependence on current or new IT systems. As a result the Federal Government passed the SOX regulations in 2002-2003 and the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform law in 2010.

Do you feel the information technology group could or should identify (expose) these fraudulant practices?

What do you feel the responsibilities of the CIO are relative to internal fraud and illegal activities?

Is the CIO ethically responsible for how the network and computing “utility” within the company is used?

Is it an IT responsibility to build and install systems that cannot be compromised?

Does the information technology have the responsibility to ask “why” a business function is needed when a system is built?

Does the internal or external audit function have any responsibility in guiding the development of new Information Technology systems? Explain.

In: Operations Management

3. Article: Control Cash-Register Thievery Based on this article what fraud is the most easiest to...

3. Article: Control Cash-Register Thievery

Based on this article what fraud is the most easiest to detect?    Most difficult?

https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2002/jun/controlcashregisterthievery.html

4. Article: Ghost Goods: How to Spot Phantom Inventory

Why does the client most likely resort to creating a phantom inventory?

https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2001/jun/ghostgoodshowtospotphantominventory.html

5. Article: Ghost Goods: How to Spot Phantom Inventory

Should the auditor consider both motive and opportunity when investigating an inventory fraud?

https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2001/jun/ghostgoodshowtospotphantominventory.html

7. The Crazy Eddie Antar fraud is discussed in the article So Thats Why Its Called a Pyramid Scheme and in Chapter 12.   What are the lessons learned by fraud examiners from this fraud?

https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2000/oct/sothatswhyitscalledapyramidscheme.html

8. When a fictitious refund is made for merchandise returned what is the problem that the fraudster must solve in order for the fraud to be undetected?

In: Accounting

Brent received 1,000 shares of Alabama Corporation stock from his uncle as a gift on July​...

Brent received 1,000 shares of Alabama Corporation stock from his uncle as a gift on July​ 20, 2017​, when the stock had a $275,000 FMV. His uncle paid $ 100,000 for the stock on April​ 12, 2002. The taxable gift was $ 275,000​, because his uncle made another gift to Brent for $25,000 in January and used the annual exclusion. The uncle paid a gift tax of $13,750. Without considering the transactions​ below, Brent's AGI is $75,000 in 2018. No other transactions involving capital assets occur during the year.

Analyze each transaction​ below, independent of the​ others, and determine Brent's AGI in each case. ​(Do not round intermediary calculations. Only round the amounts you input in the cells to the nearest dollar. Use a minus sign or parentheses to enter a​ loss.)

a. He sells the stock on October​ 12, 2018​, for $281,000.

b. He sells the stock on October​ 12, 2018​, for $106,750.

c. He sells the stock on December​ 16, 2018​, for $269,000.

In: Accounting

Barking deer. Microhabitat factors associated with forage and bed sites of barking deer in Hainan Island,...

Barking deer.

Microhabitat factors associated with forage and bed sites of barking deer in Hainan Island, China were examined from 2001 to 2002. In this region woods make up 4.8% of the land, cultivated grass plot makes up 14.7%, and deciduous forests makes up 39.6%. Of the 426 sites where the deer forage, 4 were categorized as woods, 16 as cultivated grassplot, and 61 as deciduous forests. The table below summarizes these data.

Woods Cultivated Grass Deciduous Forest Other Total
4 16 67 345 426
  1. Write the hypotheses for testing if barking deer prefer to forage in certain habitats over others.

  2. What type of test can we use to answer this research question?
  3. Check if the assumptions and conditions required for this test are satisfied.
  4. Do these data provide convincing evidence that barking deer prefer to forage in certain habitats over others? Conduct an appro- priate hypothesis test to answer this research question.

In: Math

QUESTION 1 Your organization has started experiencing low sales amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The management has...

QUESTION 1
Your organization has started experiencing low sales amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The management has decided to carry out an Action Research to beef up the sales and enhance the overall performance of the organization. As a Research Officer of the organization, outline and briefly discuss most suitable elements of an Action Research proposal for management consideration.

QUESTION 2
Case Study
The case below relates to an MBA Accounting & Finance student, Eli, at UPSA, who was interested in the applicability of organizational citizenship behaviour theory to Ghanaian workers. The title of the research is: The applicability of organizational citizenship behaviour theory to a Ghanaian organisation.


Background
The early definition of organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) viewed this as discretionary behaviours by employees that were not recognised through the reward system (Organ 1988; Organ et al. 2006). Partly because such behaviours could subsequently be recognised through reward, OCB was redefined as ‘performance that supports the social and psychological environment’ within which work occurs (Organ 1997: 95). It has been adopted by researchers such as Bolino et al. (2002) to indicate situations where employees work beyond contractual requirements to support one another, to subordinate individual interests to organizational ones and to demonstrate organisational commitment. In this way OCBs may contribute to organisational performance and potentially offer a source of competitive advantage. Podsakoff et al. (2009) report finding over 650 published articles on OCB, mainly examining the categories of behaviour that make up OCB (its dimensions), what causes employees to engage in these behaviours (the determinants or antecedents of OCB) and how OCB is related to these other variables. An early, influential study to identify its dimensions used interviews with managers in a manufacturing company to ‘identify instances of helpful, but not absolutely required job behaviour’ to help to define OCB (Smith et al. 1983). This and other early studies led to the identification of five categories of OCBs (Organ 1988). These were labelled as altruism (helping a co-worker with a workplace task); civic virtue (participating in the organisation); conscientiousness (working beyond the minimum requirements for the job); courtesy (considering how one’s own behaviour might affect others and acting to facilitate harmony); and sportsmanship (not complaining even in less than ideal situations) (e.g. Organ 1988). Further research led to new dimensions of OCB being proposed (Organ et al. 2006), although these five original categories have remained the most commonly tested.


However, continuing to use some of these dimensions of OCB and the measurement scales associated with them (Organ 1988; Podsakoff et al. 1990) has been questioned for two important reasons. Firstly, the nature of work has changed since the 1980s and 1990s. Manufacturing and manual work is now less important in many economies while knowledge work is much more important. Based on research, Dekas et al. (2013) developed an OCB scale for knowledge workers that reflects the nature of knowledge-based work, such as working flexibly and taking personal initiative. This new scale overlaps with some earlier OCB dimensions but replaces or eliminates outdated items related to willingly obeying rules or regimented working practices.


Secondly, questions have been asked about the transferability of OCB scales to other cultures.
OCB studies may apply only to the cultural context within which they are conducted (Choi, 2009). The applicability of OCB to other cultural settings therefore requires further research. Hui et al. (2004) examined the relationships between psychological contract constructs and OCBs in Ghana.
They adopted the OCB scale developed by Podsakoff et al. (1990) (see earlier) and, in part, found that that more research is required to understand how culture affects the applicability of OCB. Farh et al. (1997) examined the relationships between organisational justice theory and OCBs in Ghana, using a Ghanaian OCB scale they developed. They found that the relationships between organisational justice and OCB were moderated by cultural (attitudes about either modernity or tradition) and gender factors. Some behaviour of Ghanaian employees may be due to socialization or broader cultural norms and be more personally focused than organizationally related (Farh et al. 1997; Hui et al. 2004). This raises questions about the applicability of OCB in Ghana and whether organisational justice and psychology contract constructs may be determinants or antecedents of OCB. In addition, Hui et al. (2004) point out that organisational type may affect OCB; for example, they cite research saying that Ghanaian employees may prefer working for a foreign-owned company rather than a state-owned enterprise.

Research question and research objectives
The research question is:
To what extent are organisational citizenship behaviour, organisational justice and psychological contract theories applicable to Ghanaian organisations and why?
The research objectives are:
1) To identify suitable measurement scales for each theory, to use in the case study of Ghanaian organisation.
2) To examine the relationship in the case study organisation between findings from the organisational justice scale and findings from the organisational citizenship behaviour scale.
3) To examine the relationship in the case study organisation between findings from the psychological contract scale and findings from the organisational citizenship behaviour scale.
4) To examine the relationship between findings in the case study organisation from the organisational citizenship behaviour scale and findings in other national contexts from organisational citizenship behaviour research.
5) To draw conclusions from the relationships observed in objectives 2, 3 and 4, to evaluate the applicability of these concepts in a Ghanaian organisation.


Method
Research design

This research is designed to test the applicability of these theories in a case study, Ghanaian organisation. The research will use a survey strategy incorporating existing scales from peer-reviewed, high-quality academic journals. The research will be cross-sectional in nature.
Participants
The intended participants in this study work for [company name] in Ghana. Its management have agreed to grant me access to a representative sample of employees drawn from the different grades and occupations and between males and females employed within the organisation [email attached]. Eli is currently in correspondence with the manager of the human resource department to finalise a stratified random sample to represent the characteristics of the organisation’s workforce. It is envisaged that the sample size will be 200 employees.

Techniques
The scales for organisational citizenship behaviour, organisational justice and the psychological contract will be incorporated into a questionnaire that will also collect data about respondents’ demographic characteristics. This questionnaire will be administered in Ghana. It will be checked for accuracy of translation and pilot tested by some of my fellow students. Amendments will be made where necessary. It will then be administered in paper form. The data will be analysed quantitatively using IBM SPSS Statistics. A range of statistical techniques will be used to analyse these data and the results from these will be used to identify relationships between the concepts identified in the research objectives and to allow comparison with previously published research.
Ethical considerations and procedures
Eli will compose a letter to be sent to members of the sample that informs them about who I am and the purpose of my research project, and to assure them that their responses to each of the questionnaire items will be seen and used only by Eli. Respondents will not be asked for their name on the questionnaire. The questionnaire will ask for only limited personal data about each participant [for example, whether they are male or female as previous research has found this to be a significant factor in the applicability of organisational justice and organizational citizenship behaviours in a Ghanaian context (Farh et al. 1997)].
Completed questionnaires will be posted into a sealed container that will be returned to Eli to ensure respondent confidentiality and the anonymity of the data that they provide. These questionnaires will be given an anonymous code and the data they contain entered into a spreadsheet by Eli. Once I have input the data and it has been checked carefully to ensure accuracy the questionnaires will be shredded by Eli. Ensuring confidentiality and anonymity should mean that no harm should result from participating in this research. Part of my covering letter will state that participation is entirely voluntary and if an intended participant does not wish to take part, they are not under any obligation to do so. Another matching employee will be sent a copy of my letter and asked if they would like to receive a copy of my questionnaire. If he or she is willing to complete the questionnaire, he or she will be informed to post it personally into the sealed container.

Resources
I will be responsible for producing and copying the questionnaire. I will pay for the cost of posting these to Ghana. I also have access to IBM SPSS Statistics and am competent in the analytical techniques required to analyse the data and interpret this analysis. The company has kindly agreed to pay the costs of returning the completed questionnaires to Eli. Once I have received these questionnaires I will be responsible for inputting the data into the software to analyse it. There should not be any other resource requirements in order to be able to undertake this research project.
Required:
a) Using the information in the ‘Background’ section of the proposal, what concerns may be raised about the proposed ‘Research design’, ‘Title’, ‘Research question and research objectives’?
b) What further information would be helpful to know in the ‘Participants’ section?
c) Based on the concerns raised in questions 1 and 2, suggest appropriate ‘Title’, ‘Research question and research objectives’ and the ‘Research design’?

In: Finance

Determine whether or not the following statements are true or false. A. If the income consumption...

Determine whether or not the following statements are true or false.

A. If the income consumption curve is vertical, the Engel curve for good y is upward sloping.

B. If the price consumption curve (as the price of good x changes) is vertical, the price elasticity of demand for good x is zero.

C. An upward sloping price consumption curve (as the price of good x changes) indicates that goods x and y are complements in consumption.

D. If preferences over goods x and y are represented by U(x,y) = 3x1/2 y1/2 , the price consumption curve (as the price of x changes) is necessarily horizontal.

E. If U(x,y)= 3 + ln(x) + 5y, the income consumption curve is vertical, assuming an interior solution.

In: Economics

Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare/ACA was passed in 2010 as a way to control federal health...

Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare/ACA was passed in 2010 as a way to control federal health care expenditures and to provide wider access to health care in the USA. The ACA has a myriad of provisions that will likely stay a part of US law, for example Family Health Insurance Coverage will include children up to age 26. The ACA also has a myriad of provisions that the current federal administration apparently believes should be repealed or at least modified. We discussed sixteen (16) changes to the ACA that have occurred since President Trump was inaugurated. Tell me five (5) of these changes to the provisions of the ACA and how you believe the ACA will be affected as a result of the changes, i.e. will it be stronger, weaker or unaffected and why.

In: Economics