Selected balance sheet and income statement information from CVS Health Corp. for 2014 through 2016 follows ($ millions).

a. Compute times interest earned ratio for each year and discuss any trends for each. Round answers to one decimal place.

Based on your computations above, select the most appropriate answer.

Times interest earned has steadily increased since 2014.

Times interest earned has steadily decreased since 2014.

Times interest earned has remained the same since 2014.

Times interest earned increased in 2015 but then decreased in 2016.

b. Compute the current ratio for each year and discuss any trend in liquidity. Round answers to one decimal place.

Do you believe the company is sufficiently liquid? Explain.

CVS’s current ratio has increased over the past three years and is greater than 1, indicating CVS is liquid.

CVS’s current ratio has decreased over the past three years and it is currently less than 1 indicating CVS is not liquid.

CVS’s current ratio has increased over the past three years, however, it remains less than 1 indicating CVS is not liquid.

CVS’s current ratio has decreased over the past three years, however, it is greater than 1 indicating CVS is liquid.

c. Compute the total liabilities-to-equity ratio for each year and discuss any trends for each.

Round answers to one decimal place.

Based on your computations above, select the most appropriate answer.

CVS's liabilities to equity ratio has increased since 2014, however, the ratio is relatively low, concluding CVS is solvent.

CVS's liabilities to equity ratio has decreased since 2014, remaining relatively low, concluding CVS is solvent.

CVS's liabilities to equity ratio has increased since 2014, and is relatively high, concluding CVS is insolvent.

CVS's liabilities to equity ratio has decreased since 2014, remaining relatively low, concluding CVS is insolvent.

d. What is your overall assessment of the company’s credit risk from the analyses in (a), (b), and (c)?

CVS is a low credit risk as it has a low level of debt, is liquid and can easily meet its interest expenses.

CVS is a low credit risk as its liabilities to equity ratio, current ratio, and times interest earned ratio have all decreased since 2014.

CVS is a medium to high credit risk as its level of debt has increased and its current ratio and times interest ratio have decreased.

CVS is a medium to high credit risk as its liabilities to equity ratio, current ratio, and times interest earned ratio have all increased since 2014.

If you were going to open up a new US company that produces vaccines, which country would you base your international headquarters in, and why? Think through logistics and geopolitical conflicts. Please write at least 250 words

Problem 2-21B Effects of operating leverage on profitability

CFEs R Us conducts CFE review courses. Public universities that permit free use of a classroom support the classes. The only major expense incurred by CFEs R Us is the salary of instructors, which is $5,000 per course taught. The company recently planned to offer a review course in Boston for $400 per candidate; it estimated that 50 candidates would attend the course.

Complete these requirements based on the preceding information.

Part 1:

Required

Relative to the number of CFE candidates in a single course, is the cost of instruction a fixed or a variable cost?

Page 103Determine the profit, assuming that 50 candidates attend the course.

Determine the profit, assuming a 10 percent increase in enrollment (i.e., enrollment increases to 55 students). What is the percentage change in profitability?

Determine the profit, assuming a 10 percent decrease in enrollment (i.e., enrollment decreases to 45 students). What is the percentage change in profitability?

Explain why a 10 percent shift in enrollment produces more than a 10 percent shift in profitability. Use the term that identifies this phenomenon.

Part 2:

The instructor has offered to teach the course for a percentage of tuition fees. Specifically, he wants $100 per candidate attending the class. Assume that the tuition fee remains at $400 per candidate.

Required

Is the cost of instruction a fixed or a variable cost?

Determine the profit, assuming that 50 candidates take the course.

Determine the profit, assuming a 10 percent increase in enrollment (i.e., enrollment increases to 55 students). What is the percentage change in profitability?

Determine the profit, assuming a 10 percent decrease in enrollment (i.e., enrollment decreases to 45 students). What is the percentage change in profitability?

Explain why a 10 percent shift in enrollment produces a proportional 10 percent shift in ­profitability.

Part 3:

CFEs R Us sells a workbook to each student who attends the course. The workbook contains printed material unique to each course. Workbooks that are not sold must be destroyed. Prior to the first class, CFEs R Us printed 50 copies of the books based on the estimated number of people who would attend the course. Each workbook costs $32 and is sold for $50. This cost includes a royalty fee paid to the author and the cost of duplication.

Problem 2-21B (Continued)

Required

Calculate the total cost and the cost per candidate of the workbooks, assuming that 45, 50, or 55 candidates attempt to attend the course. Round your figures to two decimal points.

Classify the cost of workbooks as fixed or variable relative to the number of candidates attending the course.

Discuss the risk of holding inventory as it applies to the workbooks.

Explain how a just-in-time inventory system can reduce the cost and risk of holding inventory.

A company randomly chose 200 US households and found that in 120 of them, the women made the majority of the purchasing decisions. We want to know the population proportion of US housholds where women make the majority of purchasing decisions. Construct a 96% confidence interval to find p.  

a) what is p hat?

b) what is alpha?

c) what is the value of the test statistic

d) what is the value of the standard errror

e) what is the value of the margin of error

f) what is the lower boundary of the confidence interval

g) what is the upper boundary of the confidence interval

HealthNut University’s Benefit Program

This activity is important because as a manager, you must be able to determine the most effective benefits to provide to your employees. There are many variables that impact the effectiveness of employee benefits. Evaluating your employees’ preferences, needs, the industry best practices and what the organization can afford are just a few.

The goal of this activity is to demonstrate your understanding of the various types of benefits available to offer employees as well as the regulations that may apply in your organization.

Read the case of the new benefit program at HealthNut University and select the best option for each scenario provided.

The employees at HealthNut University (HNU) have not seen a change in their benefits offered in several years. Meanwhile, the organization is experiencing unprecedented growth in the demand for its services thereby needing to ensure they are able to retain their valuable employees. HNU currently has 482 employees when combining administration, staff, and faculty members in the United States. Mr. Reuben, the Director of HR, has received approval to create a new benefit program for the employees.

Mr. Reuben begins by collecting both benchmark data from the industry best practices as well as conducting a survey of its current employees to identify what they value in a benefit program. While Mr. Reuben understands he will not be able to provide for every need, he knows the options need to be narrowed down to those the company’s employees desire the most.

The survey revealed the employees greatly value time off in various forms as well as an interest in long term benefits. Therefore, in addition to ensuring HealthNut University offers the legally mandated benefits, Mr. Reuben begins creating the new benefit program for HNU.

One of the most important issues for Mr. Reuben to address beyond the desires of the employees for particular types of benefits is that of ensuring each benefit policy is legally compliant. Which law/regulation applies to the benefits the company may utilize?

1. Why do you think the US is ranked lower in quality but the highest in expenditures and costs of health care?
2. Do you feel you and/or your family has adequate access to health care?
3. Do you know people who have difficulty accessing care or don't know how?
4. The UK ranks first in overall health care systems performance rankings - what services are they excelling at that sets them above all others per the Mirror, Mirror 2017 resource provided?  

While some of life's experiences are under our control, others are not. External factors are those in life which we cannot control (such as who raised us or where we live). Can you identify events in your life that have contributed to the person you are today? Can you identify events in your life that may have contributed to feelings of inadequacy? If faced with the same event today, would your actions and/or feelings regarding the incident be different? How and in what way?

The percent of blue-eyed people in the US is estimated to be about 15%. A random sample of 20 Providence College students is taken.
a) Use the binomial distribution to find the probability that [Round to 4 decimal places .XXXX]
(i) None of the 20 students have blue eyes.
(ii) at most 5 have blue-eyes
(iii) 3 or more have blue-eyes
b )Find the expected number of students who would have blue-eyes in a random sample of 20.

Two summers ago in NYC there was an outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease. Since summer is upon us our first discussion board will be about this topic. Legionnaires' Disease is a type of pneumonia caused by bacteria (legionella) that grow in warm water. Discuss how local officials, the health department, the mayor's office, handled the outbreak. Discuss the following questions: What factors may have caused this problem? What was identified as the source of the outbreak? Who is at risk for the disease? How long did the outbreak in NYC last?

In viewing the documentary, Genocide: Worse than War, think about the work of Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo, what do their psychological experiments suggest to us about human nature, obedience to authority, and authoritarian behavior in relation to the act of genocide and the perpetrators of this horrible act?

Now, given the level of narcissism involved in the men who have historically led such atrocities, what similarities do we see in serial killers like Ted Bundy or cult leaders like Jim Jones?