As mentioned in the opening part of the Robatelli's Pizzeria case, there are now 53 locations throughout the greater Pittsburgh area. Each one of those restaurant locations employs a full-time store manager and varying numbers of kitchen staff, servers, and delivery staff. The kitchen staff, servers, and delivery staff vary between full-time and part-time status. There tend to be high rates of turnover, especially among the part-time staff. Robatelli's pays its employees on a weekly basis each Friday for the week ending on the previous Saturday. Employee paychecks include withholdings for federal taxes as well as state and local taxes applicable for the employee's residence. Employees may live in one of three states and over 25 municipalities that are included in the greater Pittsburgh regional area. All payroll accounting is handled by Robatelli's at its home office.

Each restaurant must also maintain various fixed assets in order to operate.Following is a general list of fixed assets for each store:

 Furniture and store fixtures, including tables, chairs, and built-in items such as shelving, counters, and booths

 Kitchen equipments, such as refrigerators, stoves, ovens, and dishwashing machines

 Computers Note that the number of each of these fixed assets maintained at each location varies, depending upon the size of the store. Also note that each member of the delivery staff uses his or her personal automobile (rather than a company-owned car) for customer deliveries.

In addition, the home office maintains the following types of fixed assets:

 Land and the office building

 Office furniture and fixtures

 Computers and other office equipment

 Telephone systems

Finally, fixed assets maintained at the commissary include the following:

 Fixtures, such as built-in cabinets and shelving

 Kitchen equipment

 Computers

 Delivery trucks

All fixed asset accounting is handled by Robatelli's at its home office.

Required:

a. Describe how you believe an efficient and effective payroll system should be organized at Robatelli's. Include details such as the answers to these questions:

(a) What types of payroll documentation should be prepared at the restaurant locations?

(b) How will the necessary information for payroll flow between restaurants and the home office?

(c) How should IT systems be used in the payroll processes?

Coffee shop case study

Suppose I own a coffee shop on campus and need to decide how many workers to hire for each hour. I could hire just one worker and he would need to do everything. This would probably result in fewer sales, but it would help keep my labor costs low. Alternatively, I could hire 10 workers and this would result in many more sales, but my labor cost would be 10 times higher.

I sell basic coffee for $2.50 per cup. If I decided to sell coffee for more, nobody would come to my coffee shop because there are lots of other coffee shops on campus selling basic coffee for $2.50. For simplicity, assume that my only other cost of selling a cup of coffee is the ingredients which cost $0.50 per cup.

If I hire just 1 worker, she sells around 10 cups of coffee per hour and there is usually a pretty long line of people waiting to get coffee. If I hire 2 workers, together they are able to sell 18 cups of coffee per hour and there is a line of 5-6 people most times. If I hire 3 workers, together they are able to sell 25 cups of coffee per hour and the line is only 2-3 people. If I hire 4 workers, together they are able to sell 30 cups of coffee per hour and there is always 1 person in line. If I hire 5 workers, they sell 35 cups of coffee per hour and there are no lines.

Workers get paid $12 per hour.

Discussion questions:

1) How many workers should I hire? Clearly explain your reasoning.
2) Suppose that during finals week there is a huge increase in demand for coffee. There are no new coffee shops built just for finals week. What elements of the scenario are likely to change? Should I change the number of workers hired each hour? What guides this decision?
3) Suppose that USC places a price cap of $2.50 on coffee during finals week. What will that do to the length of the line at my coffee shop during finals week? How many workers should I hire during finals week in this scenario?
4) Discuss how your answer to question 2 and 3 relates to the scale effect.
5) Based on your answer to question 4, evaluate this common claim “When product demand goes up, firms hire more workers in order to meet demand for their product”.

Office Equipment, Inc. (OEI) leases automatic mailing machines to business customers in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The company built its success on a reputation of providing timely maintenance and repair service. Each OEI service contract states that a service technician will arrive at a customer’s business site within an average of 3 hours from the time that the customer notifies OEI of an equipment problem.

Currently, OEI has 10 customers with service contracts. One service technician is responsible for handling all service calls. A statistical analysis of historical service records indicates that a customer requests a service call at an average rate of one call per 50 hours of operation. If the service technician is available when a customer calls for service, it takes the technician an average of 1 hour of travel time to reach the customer’s office and an average of 1.5 hours to complete the repair service. However, if the service technician is busy with another customer when a new customer calls for service, the technician completes the current service call and any other waiting service calls before responding to the new service call. In such cases, after the technician is free from all existing service commitments, the technician takes an average of 1 hour of travel time to reach the new customer’s office and an average of 1.5 hours to complete the repair service. The cost of the service technician is $80 per hour. The downtime cost (wait time and service time) for customers is $100 per hour.

OEI is planning to expand its business. Within 1 year, OEI projects that it will have 20 customers, and within 2 years, OEI projects that it will have 30 customers. Although OEI is satisfied that one service technician can handle the 10 existing customers, management is concerned about the ability of one technician to meet the average 3-hour service call guarantee when the OEI customer base expands. In a recent planning meeting, the marketing manager made a proposal to add a second service technician when OEI reaches 20 customers and to add a third service technician when OEI reaches 30 customers. Before making a final decision, management would like an analysis of OEI service capabilities. OEI is particularly interested in meeting the average 3-hour waiting time guarantee at the lowest possible total cost.

1. What is your recommendation for the number of service technicians to hire when OEI expands to 30 customers? Use the information that you developed in Question 4 (above) to justify your answer.

Office Equipment, Inc. (OEI) leases automatic mailing machines to business customers in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The company built its success on a reputation of providing timely maintenance and repair service. Each OEI service contract states that a service technician will arrive at a customer’s business site within an average of 3 hours from the time that the customer notifies OEI of an equipment problem.

Currently, OEI has 10 customers with service contracts. One service technician is responsible for handling all service calls. A statistical analysis of historical service records indicates that a customer requests a service call at an average rate of one call per 50 hours of operation. If the service technician is available when a customer calls for service, it takes the technician an average of 1 hour of travel time to reach the customer’s office and an average of 1.5 hours to complete the repair service. However, if the service technician is busy with another customer when a new customer calls for service, the technician completes the current service call and any other waiting service calls before responding to the new service call. In such cases, after the technician is free from all existing service commitments, the technician takes an average of 1 hour of travel time to reach the new customer’s office and an average of 1.5 hours to complete the repair service. The cost of the service technician is $80 per hour. The downtime cost (wait time and service time) for customers is $100 per hour.

OEI is planning to expand its business. Within 1 year, OEI projects that it will have 20 customers, and within 2 years, OEI projects that it will have 30 customers. Although OEI is satisfied that one service technician can handle the 10 existing customers, management is concerned about the ability of one technician to meet the average 3-hour service call guarantee when the OEI customer base expands. In a recent planning meeting, the marketing manager made a proposal to add a second service technician when OEI reaches 20 customers and to add a third service technician when OEI reaches 30 customers. Before making a final decision, management would like an analysis of OEI service capabilities. OEI is particularly interested in meeting the average 3-hour waiting time guarantee at the lowest possible total cost.

1. What is your recommendation for the number of service technicians to hire when OEI expands to 20 customers? Use the information that you developed in Question 4 (above) to justify your answer.

17. Which of the following would appear on the statement of financial position as a current liability?

22. Dietz Inc. sells merchandise on credit. If a customer pays its balance due within the discount period, what is the effect of the payment on Dietz’s accounting equation, assuming the sale has already been appropriately recorded?

a) Use the Student's t-distribution to find the t-value for each of the given scenarios. Round t-values to four decimal places.

• Find the value of t such that the area in the right tail of the t-distribution is 0.01, if the sample size is 89.
  
  t=
  
• Find the value of t such that the area in the left tail of the t-distribution is 0.0005, if the sample size is 134.
  
  t=
  
• Find the value of t such that the area in the right tail of the t-distribution is 0.005, if the sample size is 142.
  
  t=
  
• Find the two values of t such that 95% of the area under the t-distribution is centered around the mean, if the sample size is 71. Enter the solutions using a comma-separated list.
  
  t=

b) A forester with the National Park Service was tasked with estimating the average age of the bald cypress trees (Taxodium distichum) in Big Cypress Swamp - a region in Everglades National Park. The forester extracted core samples from 32 randomly selected bald cypress trees in Big Cypress Swamp. The mean age of the sample was 253.5 years with a standard deviation of 13.2 years.

Using a 95% confidence level, determine the margin of error, E, and a confidence interval for the average age of all bald cypress trees in Big Cypress Swamp. Report the confidence interval using interval notation. Round solutions to two decimal places, if necessary.

The margin of error is given by E=.

A 95% confidence interval is given by ____

c) Each year, researchers at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) administer the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). Researchers estimate the average amount of time Americans spend on daily activities, such as working, housework, and leisure activities. In particular, one activity that is of interest is the average amount of time Americans spend watching television each day.

A researcher complied a random sample of 16 Americans and asked each person how much time they spent watching television each day. The results are given below.

Determine the point estimate, x¯ and the sample standard deviation, s. Round the solutions to four decimal places, if necessary.

x¯=

s=

Using a 98% confidence level, determine the margin of error, E, and a confidence interval for the average time Americans spend watching television each day. Report the confidence interval using interval notation. Round solutions to two decimal places, if necessary.

The margin of error is given by E=.

A 98% confidence interval is given by . ____

d) An epidemiologist needs to estimate the proportion of residents of St. Lucie county that have been infected with COVID-19. Determine the most conservative estimate of the sample size required to limit the margin of error to within 0.075 of the population proportion for a 98% confidence interval.

Round the solution up to the nearest whole number.

n=

The issue of homelessness is relevant to both Microeconomics, Econ 10 B, and Macroeconomics, Econ 10 A. In Micro we discuss at great length the market for rental housing: supply, demand, price and quantity. Many families in America BECOME homeless as a direct result of “free market” forces: their rent rises beyond their ability to pay. In Macro, we discuss the national picture: the millions of jobs involved on a national scale in the construction and sale of residential units: homes, condos, apartments, and ADUs (accessory dwelling units). The San Jose Mercury News reported on June 17 that the city of San Jose is dismantling a temporary homeless site after spending more than $1.3 million repairing dozens of dilapidated state-owned trailers. The article states that “nearly 6,200 people in San Jose don’t have a place to call home and county health officials believe that at least 2,500 of them are at high risk of infection.” Some experts believe the total is much higher than that. San Jose has announced plans to build hundreds of ‘dorm-style’ modular and prefab housing units to serve its homeless population on three locations in the city: A site at Monterey and Bernal roads, a second at Evans Lane, and a third at Rue Ferrari and Highway 101. In EACH AND EVERY CASE, opposition from neighbors has been INTENSE. ‘NOT IN MY BACKYARD!” The city of San Francisco had been spending over $300 million PER YEAR (before March, 2020) to house homeless people and provide other services. Yet, the number of homeless keeps rising. Given the incredible drop in tax revenue---hotel taxes, sales taxes on restaurant meals-----since March, 2020, it is almost impossible to imagine that level of funding staying level. San Francisco has suffered a greater drop in tax revenue than San Jose or Oakland. Obviously, it is not a contest. So, here goes: Question 1. In early March, 2020, our state government announced tentative plans to move homeless people in to college dorm rooms. A. In your opinion, is this idea a good idea? Or a bad idea? Why? B. Would you make this program voluntary for homeless people? Or mandatory? Why? C. How vigorously would you enforce this program? Why? D. What penalties, if any, would you impose on homeless people for non-compliance? Why? E. In theory, what could ‘go wrong’ with the enforcement of this program? What other support services do homeless people require, in addition to housing? F. Moving homeless people into hotel rooms, (combined with support services), which our state has done on an unprecedented level, may be a better idea than moving them into college dorms. Why? G. In your opinion, what more should we be doing as a society to address this issue? Why?

Parks and Recreation: A Case Study

Pace is a beautiful, peaceful, and rapidly growing county in the heart of the Sunbelt. One winter day, Joseph Andraseli, MPA, an assistant city manager in a northeastern town, decided that he would answer an ad for the position of county manager in Pace. The county commission liked him, and he liked what he saw of the area.

At 9 a.m. on his 10th day on the job, his secretary, Meg, came into the office and said, “Mr. Andraseli, there are five park employees here waiting to see you. They seem angry.” Andraseli had a busy schedule, and besides, he was six organizational levels removed from the park employees. But he reconsidered, as he had interviewed on the notion that he had an “open-door” policy. He asked Meg to send them in.

Parks and recreation workers were among the lowest paid and least skilled workers on the county’s payroll. Their occupation most of the time involved working outdoors. These five workers, all of whom were older employees, wished to complain that their supervisor, who was much younger, always assigned them to the worst parks in the county. The younger employees, who also were “friends” with the supervisor, were able to choose the parks in which they worked. The older employees never were given any say on their assignments, and they wanted this changed.

Andraseli obviously was in a tough position. The grievance had clear overtones of discrimination and had the potential to escalate. Yet he did not want to undermine the authority of the managers and supervisors that stood between him and the five angry men seated across from him. He had not met the supervisor and had only had a limited introduction to the department director.

The union that represented the parks and recreation workers also was a possibility for these employees, but Andraseli did not want the union to represent these workers if he could solve the problem. These workers obviously had not gone through the chain of command, but what could he do to keep this from escalating?

Please answer the following questions thoughtfully on a 2 paged memo.

In this case you are Andraseli. What will you do next?

1. First, diagnose what the specific problem is. Who are the stakeholders, and what roles do they play? What assumptions or attributions are you making about the problem and the circumstances under which it occurs?

2. Second, are there secondary problems? identify the facts and what special considerations must be taken into account. What are the strategic factors that must be satisfied to solve the problem.

3. Third, determine what are the options (recommended procedures, practices, and techniques) for dealing with or solving the problem.

4. Fourth, make a recommendation or decision. These decisions need to be provided with supporting analysis and evidence that explains or justifies why the decision was made.

5. Fifth, focus on the generalizable assessment of the case study or simulation reflecting on the takeaways, lessons and insights derived from it.

Statement of Cost of Goods Manufactured for a Manufacturing Company Cost data for Sandusky Manufacturing Company for the month ended January 31 are as follows: Inventories January 1 January 31 Materials $210,250 $182,920 Work in process 138,770 120,730 Finished goods 109,330 124,390 Direct labor $378,450 Materials purchased during January 403,680 Factory overhead incurred during January: Indirect labor 40,370 Machinery depreciation 24,390 Heat, light, and power 8,410 Supplies 6,730 Property taxes 5,890 Miscellaneous costs 10,930.

b. Determine the cost of goods sold for January