The Hidden Student Loan Debt Problem

Much outrage has been expressed over the difficulty U.S. college students and recent graduates are facing because of their student loan debt. Since the recession began in 2008, the amount of student loan debt has spiked by 84 percent, with borrowers owing a record $1.2 trillion. Nearly 40 million Americans have at least one outstanding student loan, according to new research by Experian. But is the problem as dire as some make it out to be?

Today, the average student owes about $28,000 on student loans. That is a big number, but a recent article in Forbes used some comparisons to help put that number into perspective. For example, the average American car loan is $27,000 and purchasing a car does not deliver the high return on investment that a four-year college education does. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that over an adult’s working life, someone with a bachelor’s degree can expect to earn nearly an extra million dollars on average compared with someone with only a high school diploma. Similarly, the average home mortgage loan in the U.S. is now over $280,000. Some observers have suggested that student loan debt may prevent young people from purchasing cars or homes and hence is a serious problem. That may be true to some extent, but I argue that the real problem today is wage stagnation, which adds years to when borrowers can pay off their student loans and does much more to limit their opportunities in life.

Please understand that I am not downplaying the hardships of student loan debt or the seriousness of the rising cost of education. A college education has become part of the American dream, right up there with home ownership and apple pie — and rightly so. Years ago, government programs were created to subsidize student loans to honor the belief in higher education and recent proposals aimed at forgiving or reducing student loan borrowing seem to echo the same sentiment.

Let’s review some recent legislation and proposals. A law signed by President George W. Bush to provide forgiveness of student loans for people going into public service for 10 years will begin helping people in 2017. Other officials are working to provide even more support to indebted students. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) developed the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act, which allows borrowers to refinance their student debt at today’s lower interest rates. Such refinancing is already commonplace with mortgages and cars, but has not been easily available in the student loan sector. The Obama administration estimates that the bill has the potential to help 25 million borrowers to save about $2,000 over the lifetime of their loans. Earlier this summer, the bill was blocked in the Senate, primarily because it would require the imposition of new taxes or the loss to the federal government of $60 billion in student loan interest payments over the next decade.

In truth, while the amount of student loan debt is concerning, it’s not the most serious problem facing college students and recent graduates. When adjusted for inflation, student loan debt has increased, but, as noted, it is about the size of a car loan on average. While horror stories have been reported about individuals who borrowed massive amounts to finance multiple degrees in fields offering few jobs, that problem is connected to factors beyond the availability of loans. A critical problem today is the stagnation of wages, which makes people take longer to pay back loans. Politicians overlook this and often focus on symptoms of the problem. This diverts attention from the stagnant economy and the reduction of public funding for higher education, which is being felt in many states, including Pennsylvania.

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Colleges do play a role in the problem, both for increasing costs so rapidly and for facilitating situations in which students can earn degrees that offer few opportunities in the job market. In an era of global markets, where jobs are often mobile and technology has automated many functions, colleges have not uniformly adjusted their standard model to ensure that students receive adequate preparation for work. While it is fine for university officials to say that they wish to educate students for their career and not their first job, it is imperative for colleges to provide career skills that allow students to find employment by using the critical thinking skills and other attributes provided in a traditional liberal arts education.

It is also essential for colleges to supplement the student experience in ways that enhance the employability of graduates. For example, a recent Gallup study showed that students who have strong relationships with faculty and mentors and have access to experiences that allow them to apply what is discussed in the classrooms (through internships, cooperative education programs, and other real-world and experience-based learning practices) are more successful in their careers and happier in life. Gallup identified six specific attributes and concluded that only three percent of the respondents strongly agreed that they had exposure to all six.

I am not saying that student loan indebtedness should be ignored. It is a problem, but it is less serious than other related problems. It is a symptom of a vicious cycle: State governments have reduced funding for higher education, which pushes tuition higher. Government-guaranteed student loans provide options for students to deal with higher college costs. Colleges use the increased tuition revenue to ensure budgets are met. There is inadequate pressure on colleges to emphasize job placement outcomes. Students and graduates have problems repaying the loans.

We are at a crossroads and must employ different solutions to address student loan debt. For their part, colleges must provide students with the necessary skills to be employable — even if it requires changing the traditional educational focus by adding career-focused majors in the liberal arts. Government must support higher education through consistent funding and by applying common sense to a variety of government-supported loan programs — for example, let people consolidate loans and set reasonable caps on the maximum amount that can be borrowed with a government guarantee. Society should recognize that some students will benefit more from a technical education program than a traditional college. Most importantly, government needs to stimulate wage growth, as this will lessen the problems of student loan debt much more effectively than will the creation of new legislation to forgive debt or the creation of new bureaucracies for monitoring colleges.

My q/s :- Student Loan. Is it worth it?

After reading above article post substantive comments on the student loan issue based on.(150-200)word

0. Introduction.

This laboratory assignment involves implementing a data structure called a map. A map associates objects called keys with other objects called values. It is implemented as a Java class that uses arrays internally.

1. Theory.

A map is a set of key-value pairs. Each key is said to be associated with its corresponding value, so there is at most one pair in the set with a given key. You can perform the following operations on maps.

• You can test if a key has a value in the map.

• You can add a new key-value pair to the map.

• You can get the value that is associated with a given key.

• You can change the value that is associated with a given key.

For example, the keys might be String’s that are the English words for numbers. The values might be Integer’s that are the numbers corresponding to those words. If you give the map an English word (like "ten") then you can get back its corresponding number (like 10).
      The maps for this assignment use arrays, and they work by doing linear search on those arrays. As a result, if a map has n pairs, then its operations may need at most O(n) key comparisons. However, there are better ways to implement maps, using data structures that we have not yet discussed in this course. These require only O(log n) or even O(1) key comparisons.

2. Implementation.

You must write a Java class called Map that implements a map. To simplify grading, your class must use the same names for things that are given here. Your class Map must have two generic class parameters, Key and Value, so it looks like this. Here Key is the type of the map’s keys, and Value is the type of the map’s values.

class Map<Key, Value>
{
  ⋮
}

Within the class Map, you must have two private arrays called keys and values. The array keys must be an array whose base type is the class parameter Key. The array values must be an array whose base type is the class parameter Value. Suppose that a key k is found at the index i in the array keys. Then the value associated with k is found at the same index i in the array values. Do not try to use only one array, because that will not work.
      You must also have a private integer variable called count that records how many elements of the arrays are being used. You may also need other private variables that are not mentioned here.
      Your class must have the following methods. Most of them use count, keys, and values somehow. Some methods are public and others are private. The private methods are helpers for the public methods; they may make your code easier to write. Also, any key may be null, and any value may be null. This will affect how you test if keys are equal.

public Map(int length)

Constructor. If length is less than 0 then you must throw an IllegalArgumentException. Otherwise, initialize an empty Map whose keys and values arrays have length elements. (Recall that you must make arrays of Object’s, then cast them to the appropriate types.)

public Value get(Key key)

Search the array keys for an element that is equal to key. If that element is at some index in keys, then return the element at the same index in the array values. If there is no element equal to key in keys, then throw an IllegalArgumentException.

private boolean isEqual(Key leftKey, Key rightKey)

Test if leftKey is equal to rightKey. Either or both may be null. This method is necessary because you must use == when leftKey or rightKey are null, but you must use the equals method when both are not null. (Recall that null has no methods.)

public boolean isIn(Key key)

Test if there is an element in keys that is equal to key.

public void put(Key key, Value value)

Search the array keys for an element that is equal to key. If that element is at some index in keys, then change the element at the same index in values to value. If there is no element in keys that is equal to key, then add key to keys, and add value at the same index in values. If keys and values are full, so you cannot add key and value, then throw an IllegalStateException.

private int where(Key key)

Search the array keys for an element that is equal to key. Return the index of that element. If there is no element equal to key in keys, then return −1.

When you compile your program, you may see the following ‘‘warning’’ messages from javac. Ignore them. As discussed in the lectures, these messages appear because Java does not implement class parameters (the names between < and >) correctly.

Note: your file name.java uses unchecked or unsafe operations.
Note: recompile with -Xlint:unchecked for details.

The file tests5.java on Canvas contains Java code that performs a series of tests, worth 40 points. Each test calls a public method from your class Map, and prints what the method returns. Each test is also followed by a comment that tells how many points it is worth, and what it must print if it works correctly. You may want to run additional tests, but you don’t get points for those.

Using this code: (test5.java)

class Hogwarts
{
//  MAIN. Make an instance of MAP and test it.

  public static void main(String [] args)
  {
    Map<String, String> map;

    try
    {
      map = new Map<String, String>(-5);
    }
    catch (IllegalArgumentException ignore)
    {
      System.out.println("No negatives");       //  No negatives  2 points.
    }

    map = new Map<String, String>(5);

    map.put("Harry",     "Ginny");
    map.put("Ron",       "Lavender");
    map.put("Voldemort", null);
    map.put(null,        "Wormtail");

    System.out.println(map.isIn("Harry"));      //  true          2 points.
    System.out.println(map.isIn("Ginny"));      //  false         2 points.
    System.out.println(map.isIn("Ron"));        //  true          2 points.
    System.out.println(map.isIn("Voldemort"));  //  true          2 points.
    System.out.println(map.isIn(null));         //  true          2 points.
    System.out.println(map.isIn("Joanne"));     //  false         2 points.

    System.out.println(map.get("Harry"));       //  Ginny         2 points.
    System.out.println(map.get("Ron"));         //  Lavender      2 points.
    System.out.println(map.get("Voldemort"));   //  null          2 points.
    System.out.println(map.get(null));          //  Wormtail      2 points.

    try
    {
      System.out.println(map.get("Joanne"));
    }
    catch (IllegalArgumentException ignore)
    {
      System.out.println("No Joanne");          //  No Joanne     2 points.
    }

    map.put("Ron",   "Hermione");
    map.put("Albus", "Gellert");
    map.put(null,    null);

    System.out.println(map.isIn(null));         //  true          2 points.
    System.out.println(map.isIn("Albus"));      //  true          2 points.

    System.out.println(map.get("Albus"));       //  Gellert       2 points.
    System.out.println(map.get("Harry"));       //  Ginny         2 points.
    System.out.println(map.get("Ron"));         //  Hermione      2 points.
    System.out.println(map.get("Voldemort"));   //  null          2 points.
    System.out.println(map.get(null));          //  null          2 points.

    try
    {
      map.put("Draco", "Pansy"); 
    }
    catch (IllegalStateException minnesota)
    {
      System.out.println("No Draco");           //  No Draco      2 points.
    }
  }
}

Mando Paints (MAPS)       Mando Paints (MAPS)) manufactures a paint additive that has been very successful in the metallic paint line of automotive paints. The company prides itself in making the paints that car owners buy better. MAPS is in the process of preparing its 2019 fiscal year master budget and has presented you with the following information. The company has a December 31st fiscal year-end.

1. The budgeted December 31, 2018 balance sheet for the company is shown below.

MAPS Limited Budgeted Balance Sheet December 31, 2018

Assets        Liabilities & Stockholders' Equity

Cash      $ 5,080 Accounts payable                $ 2,148 Accounts receivable (net)      26,500 Dividends payable     30,000 Raw materials inventory         800 Notes payable (Due Feb. 28, 2017)   35,000 Finished goods inventory          2,104 Prepaid insurance        1,200    Total liabilities    $ 67,148 Factory Building & Equipment   $300,000    Common stock $100,000 Accumulated       Retained earnings    148,536 248,536       depreciation    (20,000) 280,000           Total Liabilities & Total assets     $315,684    Stockholders' Equity             $315,684

2. The Accounts Receivable balance at 12/31/18 represents the remaining balances of November and December credit sales, net of any allowance for doubtful accounts. Sales were (would be) $70,000 and $65,000, respectively, in those two months.

3. Estimated sales in units for January through May 2019 are shown below.    January 10,000    February 12,000    March 13,000    April 11,000    May 10,000

     Currently, each unit sells for $12. The company expects the selling price to increase to $13 per unit from March 1, 2019.







MAPS ... continued

MAPS continued     4. The collection pattern for accounts receivable is as follows: 68% in the month of sale; 20% in the first month after the month of sale; 10% in the second month after the month of sale. The remaining 2% of credit sales are never collected. The company expects to achieve a 70-20-8 collection pattern starting with the March 2019 sales.

5. Each unit of additive has the following standard quantities and costs for direct materials and direct labor:   1.2 pounds of direct materials at $.80 per pound      15 minutes of direct labour at $12 per hour  

Direct material costs and direct labor costs are expected to increase by 15% as from March 1, 2019. Variable overhead is applied to the product on a machine hour basis. It takes 12 minutes of machine time to process one unit of finished additive. The variable overhead rate is $1.5 per machine hour. The rate will increase to $2.25 per machine hour from March 1, 2019. Total annual fixed overhead is budgeted at $120,000; it is applied to the production of the month at $1.00 per unit based on an expected annual production of 120,000 units. Budgeted fixed overhead per year is made up of the following costs:   Salaries     $ 72,000   Utilities        20,400   Insurance - factory        2,400   Depreciation- factory building & equipment    25,200    Total     $120,000             Actual fixed overhead is incurred evenly throughout the year and payments for fixed overhead are also made evenly throughout the year, if necessary. For periodic financial statements, any under-applied overhead is added to expenses and any over-applied overhead is deducted from expenses.

6. There is no beginning inventory of Work in Process. All work in process is completed in the period in which it is started. Direct materials inventory at the beginning of 2019 will consist of 1,000 pounds at a standard cost of $.80 per pound. There will be 400 units of additive in finished goods inventory at the beginning of 2019 carried at a standard cost of $5.26 per unit: Direct Materials, $.96; Direct Labor, $3.00; Variable Overhead, $.30; and Fixed Overhead, $1.00.

7. Accounts Payable relates solely to direct materials purchases. All direct material purchases are initially on account. Accounts payable are paid 60% in the month of purchase and 40% in the month after purchase. No discounts are received for prompt payment. Starting with its March 2019 purchases, the company will be making payments on accounts payable at 50% in the month of purchase and 50% in the month after purchase.

8. Any outstanding dividends payable will be paid at the end of January 2019.

9. A new piece of equipment costing $50,000 will be purchased on March 31, 2019. Payment for 80% of the cost will be made in March and 20% in May. The equipment will have a ten-year useful life and no residual value.

10. The note payable has an 8% interest rate; interest is paid at the end of each month.




MAPS ... continued

3
MAPS continued

11. MAPS's management has set a minimum cash balance at $6,000. Borrowing (repayments) can be made in even $1000 amounts from (to) the Cedi Bank at an interest rate of 6% per year. Borrowing (if necessary in the month) will be at the beginning of the month while repayment (when the company is in a position to do so) will be at the end of the month. Interest on any borrowing must be paid monthly at the end of the month.

12. The ending inventory of finished goods should be 10% of the next month's sales requirements. The ending inventory of raw materials should be 10% of the raw materials required for the next month's production. These requirements may not be met on January 1, 2019, but must be met during the budgeting period.

13. Fixed selling and administrative expenses per month are as follows: salaries, $15,000; rent, $9,000; and utilities and office expenses, $1,500. These costs are paid in cash in the month in which they are incurred.


Required: Prepare an appropriate report to MAPS’s management detailing the company’s budgeted activities for the first quarter of 2019. Budgeted information should be provided for each month, and the quarter as a whole, in columnar form. The following component budgets must be included (and submitted): a. Sales budget b. Production budget c. Direct materials purchases budget d. Direct labor budget e. Manufacturing Overhead budget f. Cost of Goods manufactured budget g. Finished goods budget h. Cost of goods sold budget i. Selling and administrative expenses budget j. Budgeted Income Statement k.   Cash budget

Also to be provided is a Budgeted Balance Sheet. Unlike the other requirements above, the Budgeted Balance Sheet submitted should be ONLY the one at the end of the first quarter of the 2019 fiscal year.

All hand-in materials must be computer generated (spreadsheets for your budgets and word processors for other write-ups).

In a note presenting your work to management, please draw management’s attention to any significant parts of your report (this note to management should not be more than one page).  

3. Go to federalreserve.gov and choose a currency that has historical data under "Country Data."

• Use Excel to chart the direct spot from 1/1/20 to the present (label axes, add a title). Copy and paste the graph into your Word doc.
• Did your currency appreciate or depreciate against the USD?
• Does your currency seem to have a lot of volatility?
• Any other observations?

Data below is for South African Rand. I need assistance with questions and creating a chart.

CASE study Electricity Generation

Case study 8.1: Electricity generation

Electricity Generation

Here and now

Distributed power generation will end the long-distancetyranny of the grid. For decades, control over energy has been deemed too important to be left to the markets. Politicians and officials have been dazzled by the economies of scale promised by ever bigger power plants, constructed a long way from consumers. They have put up with the low efficiency of those plants, and the environmental harm they do, because they have accepted that the generation, transmission and distribution of power must be controlled by the government or another monopoly. Yet in the beginning things were very different. When Thomas Edison set up his first heat-and-power co-generation plant near Wall Street more than 100 years ago, he thought the best way to meet customers’ needs would be to set up networks of decentralised power plants in or near homes and offices. Now, after a century that saw power stations getting ever bigger, transmission grids spreading ever wider and central planners growing ever stronger, the wheel has come full circle.

The bright new hope is micropower, a word coined by Seth Dunn of the WorldWatch Institute in an excellent report.* Energy prices are increasingly dictated by markets, not monopolies, and power is increasingly generated close to the end-user rather than at distant stations. Edison’s dream is being The new power plants of choice the world over are using either natural gas or renewable energy, and are smaller, nimbler, cleaner and closer to the end-user than the giants of yesteryear. That means power no longer depends on the vagaries of the grid, and is more responsive to the needs of the consumer. This is a compelling advantage in rich countries, where the digital revolution is fuelling the thirst for highquality, reliable power that the antiquated grid seems unable to deliver. California provides the best evidence: although the utilities have not built a single power plant over the past decade, individuals and companies have added a whopping 6gW of nonutility micropower over that period, roughly the equivalent of the states installed nuclear capacity. The argument in favour of micropower is even more persuasive in developing countries, where the grid has largely failed the poor. This is not to say that the existing dinosaurs of power generation are about to disappear. Because the existing capital stock is often already paid for, the marginal cost of running existing power plants can be very low. That is why America’s coal-fired plants, which produce over half the country’s power today, will go on until the end of their useful lives, perhaps decades from now – unless governments withdraw the concessions allowing them to exceed current emissions standards.

While nobody is rushing to build new nuclear plants, old ones may have quite a lot of life left in them if they are properly run, as the success of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania attests. After the near-catastrophic accident in 1979 that destroyed one of the plant’s two reactors, the remaining one now boasts an impressive safety and financial record. Safety and financial success are intimately linked, says Corbin McNeill, chairman of Exelon and the current owner of the revived plant. He professes to be an environmentalist, and accepts that nuclear power is unlikely to be the energy of choice in the longer term: ‘A hundred years from now, I have no doubt that we will get our energy using hydrogen.’ But he sees nuclear energy as an essential bridge to that future, far greener than fossil fuels because it emits no carbon dioxide.

GOOD OLD GRID

The rise of micropower does not mean that grid power is dead. On the contrary, argues CERA, a robust grid may be an important part of a micropower future. In poor countries, the grid is often so shoddy and inadequate that distributed energy could well supplant it; that would make it a truly disruptive technology. However, in rich countries, where nearly everyone has access to power, micropower is much more likely to grow alongside the grid. Not only can the owners of distributed generators tap into the grid for back-up power, but utilities can install micropower plants close to consumers to avoid grid bottlenecks. However, a lot of work needs to be done before any of this can happen. Walt Patterson of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a British think-tank, was one of the first to spot the trend toward micropower. He argues that advances in software and electronics hold the key to micropower, as they offer new and more flexible ways to link parts of electricity systems together. First, today’s antiquated grid, designed when power flowed from big plants to distant consumers, must be upgraded to handle tomorrow’s complex, multi-directional flows. Yet in many deregulated markets, including America’s, grid operators have not been given adequate financial incentives to make these investments. To work effectively, micropower also needs modern command and communications software. Another precondition is the spread of real-time electricity meters to all consumers. Consumers who prefer stable prices will be able to choose hedged contracts; others can buy and sell power, much as day traders bet on shares today. More likely, their smart micropower plants, in cahoots with hundreds of others, will automatically do it for them.

In the end, though, it will not be the technology that determines the success of distributed generation, but a change in the way that people think about electricity. CERA concludes that for distributed energy, that will mean the transition from an equipment business to a service business. Already, companies that used to do nothing but sell equipment are considering rental and leasing to make life easier for the user. Forward-looking firms such as ABB, a Swiss- Swedish equipment supplier, are now making the shift from building centralised power plants to nurturing micropower. ABB is already working on developing ‘microgrids’ that can electronically link together dozens of micropower units, be they fuel cells or wind turbines. Kurt Yeager of the Electric Power Research Institute speaks for many in the business when he sums up the prospects: ‘ Today ’s technological revolution in power is the most dramatic we have seen since Edison’s day, given the spread of distributed generation, transportation using electric drives, and the convergence of electricity with gas and even telecoms. Ultimately, this century will be truly the century of electricity, with the microchip as the ultimate customer.’

* ‘Micropower: the next electrical era’, by Seth Dunn.WorldWatch Institute, 2000

Questions

(a) Explain why power generation has traditionally been a monopoly in all developed countries.                                                                                                                               

(b) Why is it easy for the operators to exploit consumers in this market?       

(c) What is the nature of barriers to entry in the market?        

(d) How is the transmission grid related to a monopolistic market structure?  

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:
In this assignment, you are provided with working code that does the following:
1. You input a sentence (containing no more than 50 characters).
2. The program will read the sentence and put it into an array of characters.
3. Then, it creates one thread for each character in the sentence.
4. The goal of the program is to capitalize on each letter that has an odd index.
The given program actually does this but lacks the synchronization of the threads, so
the output is not correct. You will need to provide the synchronization using mutex
locks. Specifically, you are to (1) declare the mutex lock, (2) initialize the mutex lock, (3)
lock and unlock the mutex lock at an appropriate location that results in the code
working as expected, and (4) destroy the mutex lock. Be sure to place the mutex locks
so that your program works correctly every time. Do not remove code or functions – you
are to add the synchronization pieces only.
When compiling using the GNU C compiler, be sure to include the –lpthread flag
option.
SAMPLE OUTPUT (user input shown in bold green):
$ ./a.out
Please enter a phrase (less than 50 characters): when all else
fails, read the instructions
The original sentence is: when all else fails, read the instructions
The new sentence is [0]: w
The new sentence is [0]: w
The new sentence is [0]: w
The new sentence is [0]: w
The new sentence is [0]: w
The new sentence is [0]: w
The new sentence is [3]: N
The new sentence is [0]: w
The new sentence is [0]: w
The new sentence is [0]: w
The new sentence is [0]: w
The new sentence is [0]: w
The new sentence is [9]: E
The new sentence is [12]: e
The new sentence is [14]: f
The new sentence is [15]: A
The new sentence is [16]: i
2
The new sentence is [17]: L
The new sentence is [17]: L
The new sentence is [19]: ,
The new sentence is [20]:
The new sentence is [21]: R
The new sentence is [22]: e
The new sentence is [23]: A
The new sentence is [23]: A
The new sentence is [25]:
The new sentence is [26]: t
The new sentence is [27]: H
The new sentence is [27]: H
The new sentence is [27]: H
The new sentence is [29]:
The new sentence is [31]: N
The new sentence is [30]: i
The new sentence is [31]: N
The new sentence is [32]: s
The new sentence is [35]: U
The new sentence is [34]: r
The new sentence is [35]: U
The new sentence is [36]: c
The new sentence is [37]: T
The new sentence is [39]: O
The new sentence is [41]: S
The new sentence is [41]: S
The problem is that the output should look something like:
$ ./a.out
Please enter a phrase (less than 50 characters): when all else
fails, read the instructions
The original sentence is: when all else fails, read the instructions
The new sentence is [0]: w
The new sentence is [1]: H
The new sentence is [2]: e
The new sentence is [3]: N
The new sentence is [4]:
The new sentence is [5]: A
The new sentence is [6]: l
The new sentence is [7]: L
The new sentence is [8]:
The new sentence is [9]: E
The new sentence is [10]: l
The new sentence is [11]: S
The new sentence is [12]: e
The new sentence is [13]:
The new sentence is [14]: f
The new sentence is [15]: A
The new sentence is [16]: i
The new sentence is [17]: L
3
The new sentence is [18]: s
The new sentence is [19]: ,
The new sentence is [20]:
The new sentence is [21]: R
The new sentence is [22]: e
The new sentence is [23]: A
The new sentence is [24]: d
The new sentence is [25]:
The new sentence is [26]: t
The new sentence is [27]: H
The new sentence is [28]: e
The new sentence is [29]:
The new sentence is [30]: i
The new sentence is [31]: N
The new sentence is [32]: s
The new sentence is [33]: T
The new sentence is [34]: r
The new sentence is [35]: U
The new sentence is [36]: c
The new sentence is [37]: T
The new sentence is [38]: i
The new sentence is [39]: O
The new sentence is [40]: n
The new sentence is [41]: S
The new sentence is [42]:
REQUIREMENTS:
• No comments are required for this recitation assignment, except for your name at
the top of each program.
• Your program should be named “rec07.c”, without the quotes.
• Your program will be graded based largely on whether it works correctly on the
CSE machines (e.g., cse01, cse02, …, cse06), so you should make sure that
your program compiles and runs on a CSE machine.
• Although this assignment is to be submitted individually (i.e., each student will
submit his/her own source code), you may receive assistance from your TA and
even other classmates. Please remember that you are ultimately responsible for
learning and comprehending this material as the recitation assignments are given
in preparation for the minor assignments, which must be completed individually.
• Please do not share this assignment or your work with other students to allow
them the opportunity to benefit from this exercise and learn this material.
SUBMISSION:
• You will electronically submit your program to the Recitation 7 dropbox in
Canvas by the due date and time. No late recitation assignments will be
accepted.

CODE

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <pthread.h>

#define SIZE 50

char sentence[2000];
int ind = 0;

char convertUppercase(char lower)
{
//Converts lowercase un uppercase
if ((lower > 96) && (lower < 123))
{
return (lower - 32);
}
else
{
return lower;
}
}

void printChar()
{
//prints the converted sentence
printf("The new sentence is [%d]: \t%c\n", ind, sentence[ind]);
ind++;
}

void *convertMessage(void *ptr)
{
// Function that each threads initiates its execution
if (ind % 2)
{
sentence[ind] = convertUppercase(sentence[ind]);
}
  
printChar();

return 0;
}

int main()
{
int i;
char buffer[SIZE];
char *p;
pthread_t ts[SIZE]; // define up to 50 threads

printf("Please enter a phrase (less than 50 characters): ");

if (fgets(buffer, sizeof(buffer), stdin) != NULL)
{
if ((p = strchr(buffer, '\n')) != NULL)
{
*p = '\0';
}
}

strcpy(sentence, buffer); // copy string to char array
  
printf("The original sentence is: \t %s\n", sentence);

// create one thread for each character on the input word
for (i = 0; i < strlen(buffer) + 1; ++i)
{
pthread_create(&ts[i], NULL, convertMessage, NULL);
}
  
// we wait until all threads finish execution
for (i = 0; i < strlen(buffer); i++)
{
pthread_join(ts[i], NULL);
}
  
printf("\n");
  
return 0;
}

A problem of interest is the relationship between the appraised value of a property and its sale price. The sale price for any given property will vary depending on the price set by the seller, the strength of appeal of the property to a specific buyer, and the state of the money and real estate markets. We want to examine the relationship between the mean sale price E(y) of a property and the variables: appraised land value of the property, appraised value of the improvements on the property and neighborhood in which the property is listed. The data were collected from the property appraiser’s office of Hillsborough County, Florida, and saved in the TAMSALES4 file. Four neighborhoods (Hyde Park, Cheval, Hunter’s Green, and Davis Isles), each relatively homogeneous but differing sociologically and in property types and values, were identified within the city and surrounding area.

1. Draw scatter plots between the response Y and the quantitative variables.

2. Using the information, you got from the scatter plot and the knowledge in chapter 4 and 5, propose at least 3 different model to find the relation between the mean sale price E(y) and the variables. Try to build the models in such a way that one is nested in other.

3. Conduct partial F test repeatedly and find a best model from the proposed models.

4. After the final model has been selected, Conduct the Global F test for the adequacy of the model.

5. Perform individual t test if you have doubt with any one of the variables.

6. Report the value of adjusted R-squared and standard error of the model.

7. Depending on your report in step six, explain in your word if the final model is good to use or it may need some improvements.

8. Provide all the R codes you have used. TAMSALES4 file:

Using Rstudio:

FOLIO   SALES   LNSALES   LAND   IMP   TOTVAL   NBHD
129295710   378.0   5.93489   81.84   243.30   325.14   CHEVAL
129295830   273.0   5.60947   60.48   134.47   194.95   CHEVAL
129453028   321.2   5.77206   115.58   255.42   371.00   CHEVAL
129454156   327.0   5.78996   112.38   185.57   297.96   CHEVAL
129454194   382.5   5.94673   81.23   217.98   299.22   CHEVAL
129454316   242.0   5.48894   61.48   110.28   171.76   CHEVAL
129454374   242.0   5.48894   49.99   109.06   159.06   CHEVAL
129454524   510.0   6.23441   71.28   224.38   295.65   CHEVAL
129454536   285.0   5.65249   63.82   158.83   222.65   CHEVAL
129795122   500.0   6.21461   91.32   296.02   387.34   CHEVAL
129795276   825.0   6.71538   117.01   451.41   568.42   CHEVAL
129795456   515.0   6.24417   117.72   347.87   465.59   CHEVAL
129795468   520.0   6.25383   107.06   329.93   436.99   CHEVAL
129795488   780.0   6.65929   157.29   507.85   665.14   CHEVAL
129795506   825.0   6.71538   131.89   466.27   598.16   CHEVAL
129795510   841.0   6.73459   159.84   443.29   603.13   CHEVAL
129795606   1140.0   7.03878   157.49   563.91   721.41   CHEVAL
129842052   460.0   6.13123   59.36   206.84   266.20   CHEVAL
339720192   285.0   5.65249   39.75   166.61   206.36   HUNTERSGREEN
339721514   350.0   5.85793   54.00   227.43   281.43   HUNTERSGREEN
339721560   314.5   5.75098   48.84   187.13   235.97   HUNTERSGREEN
594030716   183.0   5.20949   34.75   158.05   192.80   HUNTERSGREEN
594030754   200.0   5.29832   29.10   145.80   174.90   HUNTERSGREEN
594030784   775.0   6.65286   142.27   350.43   492.70   HUNTERSGREEN
594030788   505.0   6.22456   99.62   306.43   406.05   HUNTERSGREEN
594030880   425.0   6.05209   47.52   225.74   273.26   HUNTERSGREEN
594030882   335.0   5.81413   49.01   217.35   266.36   HUNTERSGREEN
594031020   760.0   6.63332   96.10   335.59   431.69   HUNTERSGREEN
594031044   410.0   6.01616   75.79   274.22   350.01   HUNTERSGREEN
594031064   335.0   5.81413   67.22   273.66   340.88   HUNTERSGREEN
594033934   325.0   5.78383   47.02   241.87   288.90   HUNTERSGREEN
594033956   380.0   5.94017   47.74   307.20   354.94   HUNTERSGREEN
594033970   640.0   6.46147   45.55   336.44   381.99   HUNTERSGREEN
594034072   262.0   5.56834   51.97   152.96   204.94   HUNTERSGREEN
594034084   190.0   5.24702   51.25   151.68   202.94   HUNTERSGREEN
1176450000   500.0   6.21461   256.13   152.78   408.91   HYDEPARK
1186250000   550.0   6.30992   168.45   310.12   478.56   HYDEPARK
1186260000   205.8   5.32690   168.45   41.60   210.05   HYDEPARK
1692460000   590.0   6.38012   291.09   66.90   357.99   DAVISISLES
1692730000   525.0   6.26340   462.43   114.13   576.56   DAVISISLES
1692990000   340.0   5.82895   199.66   80.43   280.09   DAVISISLES
1693500000   3200.0   8.07091   1004.59   1129.65   2134.23   DAVISISLES
1694120000   500.0   6.21461   358.43   55.89   414.32   DAVISISLES
1694450000   1421.0   7.25912   391.46   550.78   942.24   DAVISISLES
1853130000   858.9   6.75565   242.47   281.62   524.09   HYDEPARK
1853270000   625.0   6.43775   264.00   184.63   448.63   HYDEPARK
1854060000   375.0   5.92693   242.00   33.79   275.79   HYDEPARK
1854250000   1240.0   7.12287   264.00   466.82   730.82   HYDEPARK
1855080000   850.0   6.74524   266.64   333.18   599.82   HYDEPARK
1855250000   2500.0   7.82405   533.28   1221.20   1754.48   HYDEPARK
1855590000   750.0   6.62007   266.64   366.05   632.69   HYDEPARK
1856430000   895.0   6.79682   266.64   358.77   625.41   HYDEPARK
1856800000   460.0   6.13123   264.00   183.54   447.54   HYDEPARK
1856960000   605.0   6.40523   210.00   259.67   469.67   HYDEPARK
1857420000   329.9   5.79879   210.00   105.94   315.94   HYDEPARK
1857460000   462.0   6.13556   210.00   145.19   355.19   HYDEPARK
1858190000   850.0   6.74524   264.00   362.71   626.71   HYDEPARK
1858440000   1525.0   7.32975   335.61   862.34   1197.95   HYDEPARK
1858450000   1400.0   7.24423   350.90   711.34   1062.24   HYDEPARK
1858770000   760.0   6.63332   264.00   257.47   521.47   HYDEPARK
1859190000   520.0   6.25383   250.23   157.75   407.98   HYDEPARK
1859400000   418.0   6.03548   193.20   147.43   340.63   HYDEPARK
1859590000   152.0   5.02388   118.80   106.14   224.94   HYDEPARK
1859620000   330.0   5.79909   118.80   123.98   242.78   HYDEPARK
1860510000   240.0   5.48064   192.01   221.54   413.55   HYDEPARK
1860580000   405.0   6.00389   223.74   122.18   345.92   HYDEPARK
1860890000   650.0   6.47697   203.49   209.11   412.60   HYDEPARK
1860920000   400.0   5.99146   203.49   101.58   305.07   HYDEPARK
1861000000   365.0   5.89990   207.48   112.78   320.26   HYDEPARK
1953960000   745.0   6.61338   291.63   83.22   374.85   DAVISISLES
1954130000   1650.0   7.40853   388.82   1023.36   1412.18   DAVISISLES
1954320000   1250.0   7.13090   648.96   81.01   729.97   DAVISISLES
1954870000   715.0   6.57228   344.12   265.18   609.30   DAVISISLES
1955990000   1215.0   7.10250   341.86   785.66   1127.52   DAVISISLES
1960100000   440.0   6.08677   179.52   58.40   237.92   DAVISISLES
1962380000   690.0   6.53669   357.07   121.25   478.33   DAVISISLES
1964590000   587.5   6.37588   300.93   75.99   376.92   DAVISISLES
1966620000   377.5   5.93357   238.86   43.95   282.81   DAVISISLES
1968140000   810.0   6.69703   195.84   479.00   674.84   DAVISISLES
1969380000   800.0   6.68461   242.47   367.40   609.87   HYDEPARK

Each question refers to the same initial data. Treat each Part individually. Ignore income taxes. Assume no beginning or ending inventories. Unless stated otherwise, all calculations and income statements should be based on a one-month period. Calculations and backup should be completed and submitted in Excel. Use proper Contribution Income Statement formatting – example below. Analysis can either be typed into cells in Excel (formatted to be easily legible) or typed into a text box in Excel. One Excel file is to be submitted for this case study. No additional files (Word documents or otherwise) will be accepted or graded.

Contribution Margin Format Example:

Volume                                              XX

Sales                                                 XX

Variable Costs (Listed) XX

Variable Costs (Total) XX

Contribution Margin XX

Fixed Costs (Listed)          XX

Fixed Costs (Total)   XX

Operating Income XX

Data for all questions:

Stuckie produces white school glue. Their glue bottles are primarily sold at department stores across the country. The cost of manufacturing and marketing their glue, at their normal factory volume of 20,000,000 bottles of glue per month, is shown in the table below. Stuckie sells their glue bottles for $1.50 each. Stuckie is making a small profit, but they would prefer to increase their Operating Income.

Hint: Fixed costs are shown on a per-unit basis in the table based on normal volume. However, fixed costs as a total do not change when volume changes, so you will need to determine total fixed costs first.

                                                                           Per Unit                              Per Unit

Unit Manufacturing Costs:

               Variable Materials $0.30

               Variable Labor $0.35

               Variable Overhead $0.10

               Fixed Overhead $0.25

Total Unit Manufacturing Costs:                                             $1.00

Unit Marketing Costs:

               Variable Marketing Costs $.05

               Fixed Marketing Costs $.20

Total Unit Marketing Costs: $.025

Questions:

1. Stuckie wants to understand their basic starting financial data.

1. What is their monthly fixed cost, variable cost per bottle of glue, and contribution margin per bottle of glue? Show your calculations for each.
2. Prepare a one-month Contribution Margin Income Statement for the company using the given financial data at their normal factory volume. Include line items for each type of cost as well as subtotals for the variable and fixed costs.
3. What is the break-even point in units? (Show your calculations.)
4. What is the break-even point in sales dollars? (Show your calculations.)
5. Using a one-month Contribution Margin Income Statement, verify that your calculated break-even volume results in Operating Income of Zero. (Prepare the entire Contribution Margin statement at the break-even level.)

2. An office supply chain has offered to purchase 10,000,000 bottles of glue (one time in one month) if the sales price was lowered to $1.25 per bottle for that one-time sale. (This specific sale is all or nothing – they will not purchase less than 10,000,000 bottles). Stuckie’s maximum capacity is 25,000,000 units, and this special sale would not impact the sales price of Stuckie’s normal sales to their usual customer base.

1. Prepare a monthly contribution margin income statement to show what would happen if Stuckie’s accepted the special sale to the office store chain and didn’t sell any other glue that month.
2. Prepare a monthly contribution margin income statement to show what would happen if Stuckie’s accepted the special sale to the office store chain and produced at maximum capacity to sell as much glue as possible to their normal customers.
3. Compare Stuckie’s normal contribution margin income statement (from question 1) to the options available through the office supply chain (2A & 2B). Should Stuckie’s accept the specific sale from the office supply chain? Why or why not?

Question 3:

Slime-making is a current fad, and this is creating a demand for larger bottles of glue. Stuckie’s would like to offer larger bottles of glue to their customers (to support slime making). In order to have a second bottle size option, Stuckie’s would need to invest in a new bottling line. This would increase fixed overhead costs by $4,000,000 per month. All variable costs (materials, labor, overhead & marketing) would increase 5X (500%) because of the bigger bottles and additional glue put into each bottle. Market research estimates that 5,000,000 of the larger bottles of glue could be sold per month.

A) If Stuckie’s ONLY sells these new, larger bottles of glue, what is the minimum sales price per bottle they could accept and still have the same operating income (as question 1)? Show your results in a contribution margin income statement.

B) If Stuckie’s can sell the larger bottles of glue for $10 each, what is the break-even point in units for the larger bottles of glue? (Show your calculation.)

C) If Stuckie’s can sell the larger bottles of glue for $10 each, what is the break-even point in sales dollars for the larger bottles of glue? (Show your calculation.)

D) If the slime-making fad goes away, and Stuckie’s needs to go back to selling only the small bottles of glue, what would be their maximum net operating income (based on maximum capacity and the additional factory investment)? Show your results in a contribution margin income statement.

Question 4:

Stuckie’s is thinking of cutting costs by switching to a different material supplier. Their variable material costs would decrease by 50% (only variable material costs – not all variable costs). The quality of the ingredients is lower, so Stuckie’s estimates that their additional fixed scrap costs related to the ingredient quality would be $1,000,000 per month. They would not change the pricing of their glue bottles.

Note: Use the initial data provided for all questions. Ignore the special sale and larger bottle data from Parts 2 & 3.

A) Prepare a revised monthly Contribution Margin Income Statement to include the revenues, costs and profits of using the different raw material (ingredient) supplier. (At normal volume.)

B) What is the break-even point in units? (Show your calculations.)

C) What is the break-even point in sales dollars? (Show your calculations.)

D) If their sales end up decreasing because of the change in quality, how much of a reduction in sales (dollars and units) could Stuckie’s handle and still keep their net operating income the same as before the supplier change? Show your data in a Contribution Margin Income Statement.

E) What are the potential impacts – both Qualitative and Quantitative – of the material supplier change? If you had to make the decision of whether to switch suppliers or not, what would you do? Why?

**Only need the bold answered

Implement the Athlete, Swimmer, Runner, and AthleteRoster classes below. Each class must be in separate file. Draw an UML diagram with the inheritance relationship of the classes.

1. The Athlete class
a. All class variables of the Athlete class must be private.

b.is a class with a single constructor: Athlete(String lName, String fName, int birthYear, int birthMonth, int birthDay, char gender). All arguments of the constructor should be stored as class variables. There should only be getter methods for first and last name variables. There should be no getters or setters for birthYear, birthMonth, birthDay.

c. Getter and setter methods for the gender of the athlete. The method setGender accepts a character and store it as a class variable. Characters 'm', 'M' denotes male, 'f' or 'F' denotes male or female. Any other char will be treated as undeclared. The method getGender return either the word "male" or "female" or “undeclared”.

4. The method computeAge() takes no arguments and returns the athletes computed age (as of today's date) as a string of the form "X years, Y months and Z days". Hint: Use the LocalDate and Period classes.

   i. e.g. "21 years, 2 months and 3 days". ii. e.g. "21 years and 3 days".

   iii. e.g. "21 years and 2 months". iv. e.g. "21 years".

   v. e.g. "2 months and 3 days".

5. The method public long daysSinceBirth() takes no arguments and returns a long which is the number of days since the athlete’s date of birth to the current day. Hint: Use the LocalDate and ChronoUnit classes.

6. The toString method returns a string comprised of the results ofgetFname, getLName and computeAge. E.g.

   i. “Bunny Bugs is 19 years and 1 day old”

7. The equals method returns true if the name and date of birth of this athlete and the compared other athlete are the same, otherwise return false.

2. The Swimmer class
a. All class variables of the Swimmer class must be private.

2. inherits from the Athlete class and has a single constructor,

   Swimmer(String lName, String fName, int birthYear, int birthMonth, int birthDay, char gender, String team). There should be a class variable for team. There should be a getter method for team.

3. The Swimmer class stores swim events for the swimmer. There should be a class variable for events. A swimmer participates in one or more of these events. The addEvent method is oveloadedand either adds a single event for the swimmer public boolean addEvent(String singleEvent) or adds a group of events for the swimmer public boolean addEvent(ArrayList multiEvents). Each event is of type String. Duplicate events are not stored and return false if duplicate found.

4. There should be a getter method that returns the class variable events.

5. The overridden toString method returns a string comprised of the concatenation of the parent’s toString return plus " and is a swimmer for team: XXXXX in the following events: YYYYY; ZZZZZZ." E.g.

   i. “Missy Franklin is 24 years and 4 months old and is a swimmer for team: Colorado Stars. She participates in the following events: [100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 50m backstroke]”

3. The Runner class
a. All class variables of the Runner class must be private.

2. inherits from the Athlete class and has a single constructor,

   Runner(String lName, String fName, int birthYear, int birthMonth, int birthDay, char gender, String country). There should be a class variable for country. There should be a getter method for country.

3. The Runner class stores race events for the runner. There should be a class variable for events. Each event is a Distance. The list of valid events is given below:
   M100, M200, M400, M3000, M5000, M10000. A runner participates inone or more of these events. The addEvent method is oveloadedand either adds a single event for the runner public boolean addEvent(String singleEvent) or adds a group of events for the runner public boolean addEvent(ArrayList multiEvents). Each event is of type String. Duplicate events are not stored and return false if duplicate found.

4. There should be a getter method that returns the class variable events.

5. The toString method returns a String in the form: " AAA BBBB is XX years, YY months and ZZ days. He is a citizen of CCCCCCC and is a DDDDDDDD who participates in these events: [MJ00, MK00, ML00]”. If she does not participate in M3000 or M5000 or M10000 then she is a sprinter. If she does not participate in M100 or M200 or M400 then she is a long-distance runner. Otherwise she is a super athlete. E.g.

   i. “Bunny Bugs is 19 years and 1 day old. His is a citizen of USA and is a long-distance runner who participates in these events: [M10000]”

4. The AthleteRoster class
a. All class variables of the AthleteRoster class must be private.

2. Does not inherits from the Athlete class. The AthleteRoster class has a single constructor, AthleteRoster(String semster, int year). There should be class variables for semester and year. There should be getter methods for semester and year.

3. The AthleteRoster class has only one method for adding Athlete to the roster, by using the boolean addAthlete(Athlete a)method. The method returns true if the athlete was added successfully, it returns false if the athlete object already exists in the roster and therefore was not added.

4. Your AthleteRoster class will have only one class level data structure, an ArrayList, for storing athlete objects.

5. The String allAthletesOrderedByLastName() method returns a string object with of all the names of the athletes (Swimmers, Runners, etc.) in ascending order of last names(a-z).

6. The String allAthletesOrderedByAge() method returns a string object with of all the names of the athletes (Swimmers, Runners, etc.) in descending order of age(100-0).

7. The String allRunnersOrderedByNumberOfEvents() method returns a string object with of all the names of the Runners only in ascending order of number of events they participate in (0-100).

Complete the code before the due date. Submission of the completed eclipse project is via github link posted on the class page. Add your UML drawing to the github repo. ________________________________________________________________________ Example output:

__________Example from AthleteDriver shown below

Gender is undeclared
Gender is female
Gender is male
ComputeAge method says 19 years and 4 days
First name is : Duck

DaysSinceBirth method says 6943 days Last name is : Daffy
Output of our toString correct?:
Duck Daffy is 19 years and 4 days old =======================================

Did we add M10000 successfully?: true
Did we unsuccessfully try to add M10000 again?: false
Did we successfully add multiple events?: true
Did we unsuccessfully try to add multiple events?: false
How many events does Bugs participate in?: 3
Gender is male
Output of our toString correct?:
Bunny Bugs is 19 years and 3 days old. His is a citizen of USA and is a super athlete who participates in these events: [M10000, M100, M3000] =======================================

The article is after the questions

The July 6, 2011, edition of the Wall Street Journal Online includes an article by Michael Rapoport entitled “U.S. Firms Clash Over Accounting Rules.” The article discusses why some U.S. companies favored adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) while other companies opposed it.

Instructions

Read the article and answer the following questions.

(a) The articles says that the switch to IFRS tends to be favored by “larger companies, big accounting firms, and rule makers.” What reasons are given for favoring the switch?

(b) What two reasons are given by many smaller companies that oppose the switch?

(c) What criticism of IFRS is raised with regard to regulated companies?

(d) Explain what is meant by “condorsement.”

Ford Motor Co. has a special room for it.

It isn't a new hybrid car. The auto maker is preparing for a possible switch by U.S. companies to a new set of accounting rules already used in most of the rest of the world.

Ford supports the move to International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, saying the company would save money by simplifying and standardizing its accounting across all 138 countries where Ford operates.

Charts, posters and other details about how Ford would make the switch fill the company's "IFRS Energy Room," a converted conference room at the company's headquarters in Dearborn, Mich. "For two days, we were thinking of it as the IFRS 'war room,"' says Susan Callahan, Ford's manager of global accounting policies, "but we couldn't think of who we were at war with."

The answer: companies like Hallador Energy Co., a small Denver coal-mining company that doesn't do business outside the U.S. and opposes moving to the international standards.

"We didn't join the metric system when everybody else did," says W. Anderson Bishop, Hallador's chief financial officer. U.S. accounting rules are "the gold standard, and why would we want to lower our standards just to make the rest of the world happy?"

The clash between big and small companies is likely to come up at a discussion session Thursday at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington.

U.S. and global rule makers already have worked for years to eliminate many of the biggest differences between IFRS and the U.S.'s generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. The SEC is expected to decide by year end whether to require U.S. companies to shift to IFRS altogether.

If U.S. companies are required by the SEC to move to IFRS, which wouldn't happen until at least 2015, some numbers on their financial statements will have to be calculated differently. (For example, a widely used method to value inventory under GAAP isn't allowed under IFRS.) Accounting could become simpler and more flexible, since IFRS is based on guiding principles rather than GAAP's detailed rules.

Larger companies, big accounting firms and top rule makers favor the switch. They contend that global unity would save companies money by consolidating their bookkeeping and make it easier to raise capital around the world. Investors would have less trouble comparing companies based in different countries, and global securities-law enforcement would improve, supporters say.

"It puts everybody on the same language and gives everybody a chance to coalesce along the same standards," said Joel Osnoss, Deloitte & Touche LLP's global IFRS leader for clients and markets. "The quality of financial reporting is going to improve globally."

But some smaller U.S. companies complain that the change will be a costly headache. Estimates for how much the move would cost vary. James Barlow, chief financial officer of drug company Allergan Inc. and an opponent of IFRS, estimates the change could cost companies as much as 1% of revenues.

Smaller companies also are less likely to have operations outside the U.S., or to have aspirations to expand or raise money globally.

"We don't see why the current reporting framework is insufficient," says Jim Lynch, chief financial officer of SJW Corp., a water utility in San Jose, Calif. IFRS lacks the specific rules GAAP has to deal with regulated companies like utilities, he adds.

Shannon Greene, finance chief of Tandy Leather Factory Inc., says the leather-products maker in Fort Worth, Texas, "won't get any benefit whatsoever" from switching to IFRS, though she accepts it as "one of those necessary evils." Once more small firms find out about the potential change, "you're going to see an outcry."

Given the sluggish economy and the far-off nature of the change, some companies have paid little attention to the debate. "I'm not only the CFO, but I'm also the 'OFO': the only financial officer," says Stephen Kuchen, chief financial officer at PacificHealth Laboratories, a Matawan, N.J., nutrition-technology company. "I'm not really thinking about 2016. I'm thinking about making payroll next week and making sure we have a sound business plan."

Not all small companies are opposed to IFRS. For instance, Cuisine Solutions Inc., an Alexandria, Va., maker of prepared gourmet foods, has a subsidiary in France, so standardized accounting would help the company, says Ron Zilkowski, its finance chief. Mr. Zilkowski and Ms. Greene are scheduled to speak at the SEC on Thursday.

SEC officials are concerned about IFRS's potential impact as well. "There are immediate questions when you talk to smaller companies as to whether they have the same benefits," SEC Chief Accountant James Kroeker said. Some of them also think the costs of a switch can't be scaled to their company's size, he said, so the expense would be a greater burden on them than on large companies.

There might be a compromise. Under an idea dubbed "condorsement"--a combination of "convergence" and "endorsement"--floated by the SEC, U.S. companies would stay under GAAP but efforts to move GAAP closer to IFRS would continue. At the same time, the Financial Accounting Standards Board would consider absorbing new IFRS rules into GAAP, based on whether each rule is in the best interest of U.S. investors and financial markets. The SEC says such a method would help align rules, while keeping down the costs of an accounting change.

One way or another, the U.S. needs to adopt the global accounting standards in IFRS or else "the whole idea of having one single global market starts to fall apart," says David Tweedie, who stepped down last week as chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board.

Write to Michael Rapoport at [email protected]

Credit: By Michael Rapoport

Word count: 946

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