QUESTION 1
Rockwater, a wholly owned subsidiary of Brown & Bread, a global engineering and construction company, is a worldwide leader in underwater engineering and construction. Norman Chambers, hired as CEO in late 2019, knew that the industry’s competitive world had changed dramatically. “In the 1990s, we were a bunch of guys in wet suits diving off barges into the North Sea with burning torches,” Chambers said. But competition in the subsea contracting business had become keener in the 2000s, and many smaller companies left the industry. In addition, the focus of competition had shifted. Several leading oil companies wanted to develop long-term partnerships with their suppliers rather than choose suppliers based on low-price competition.
With his senior management team, Chambers developed a vision: “As our customers’ preferred provider, we shall be the industry leader in providing the highest standards of safety and quality to our clients.” He also developed a strategy to implement the vision. The five elements of that strategy were: services that surpass customers’ expectations and needs; high levels of customer satisfaction; continuous improvement of safety, equipment reliability, responsiveness, and cost effectiveness; high-quality employees; and realization of shareholder expectations. Those elements were in turn developed into strategic objectives. If, however, the strategic objectives were to create value for the company, they had to be translated into tangible goals and actions.
Rockwater’s senior management team transformed its vision and strategy into the balanced scorecard’s four sets of performance measures. One perspective included three measures of importance to the shareholder. Return-on-capital-employed and cash flow reflected preferences for short-term results, while forecast reliability signaled the corporate parent’s desire to reduce the historical uncertainty caused by unexpected variations in performance. Rockwater management added two financial measures. Project profitability provided focus on the project as the basic unit for planning and control, and sales backlog helped reduce uncertainty of performance. Rockwater wanted to recognize the distinction between its two types of customers: Tier I customers, oil companies that wanted a high value-added relationship, and Tier II customers, those that chose suppliers solely on the basis of price. A price index, incorporating the best available intelligence on competitive position, was included to ensure that Rockwater could still retain Tier II customers’ business when required by competitive conditions. The company’s strategy, however, was to
3 | P a g e
emphasize value-based business. An independent organization conducted an annual survey to rank customers’ perceptions of Rockwater’s services compared to those of its competitors. In addition, Tier I customers were asked to supply monthly satisfaction and performance ratings. Rockwater executives felt that implementing these ratings gave them a direct tie to their customers and a level of market feedback unsurpassed in most industries. Finally, market share by key accounts provided objective evidence that improvements in customer satisfaction were being translated into tangible benefits.
From another perspective, Rockwater executives defined the life cycle of a project from launch (when a customer need was recognized) to completion (when the customer need had been satisfied). Measures were formulated for each of the five business-process phases in this project cycle: Identify: number of hours spent with prospects discussing new work; Win: tender success rate; Prepare and Deliver: project performance effectiveness index, safety/loss control, rework; and Closeout: length of project closeout cycle. Formerly, the company stressed performance for each functional department. The new focus emphasized measures that integrated key business processes. The development of a comprehensive and timely index of project performance effectiveness was viewed as a key core competency for the company. Rockwater felt that safety was also a major competitive factor. Internal studies had revealed that the indirect costs from an accident could be 5 to 50 times the direct costs. The scorecard included a safety index, derived from a comprehensive safety measurement system that could identify and classify all undesired events with the potential for harm to people, property, or process. The Rockwater team deliberated about the choice of metric for the identification stage. It recognized that hours spent with key prospects discussing new work was an input or process measure rather than an output measure. The management team wanted a metric that would clearly communicate to all members of the organization the importance of building relationships with and satisfying customers. The team believed that spending quality time with key customers was a prerequisite for influencing results. This input measure was deliberately chosen to educate employees about the importance of working closely to identify and satisfy customer needs.
At Rockwater, improvements came from product and service innovation that would create new sources of revenue and market expansion, as well as from continuous improvement in internal work processes. The first objective was measured by percent revenue from new services and the
4 | P a g e
second objective by a continuous improvement index that represented the rate of improvement of several key operational measures, such as safety and rework. But in order to drive both product/service innovation and operational improvements, a supportive climate of empowered, motivated employees was believed necessary. A staff attitude survey and a metric for the number of employee suggestions measured whether or not such a climate was being created. Finally, revenue per employee measured the outcomes of employee commitment and training programs.
The balanced scorecard has helped Rockwater’s management emphasize a process view of operations, motivate its employees, and incorporate client feedback into its operations. It developed a consensus on the necessity of creating partnerships with key customers, the importance of order-of-magnitude reductions in safety related incidents, and the need for improved management at every phase of multiyear projects. Chambers sees the scorecard as an invaluable tool to help his company ultimately achieve its mission: to be number one in the industry.
Required:
a) According to Kaplan and Norton, what characteristics/features make the balanced scorecard so special for its worldwide adoption?
b) Outline the five-pronged strategy crafted by Rockwater in developing the scorecard.

c) Using the balanced scorecard (tabular format), translate Rockwater’s strategy into tangible goals and actions.
d) Outline the importance of the balance score card to Rockwater’s.
e) What factors aided Rockwater in its smooth switch to the balanced Score card?
f) How beneficial can the scorecard be to UPSA Graduate School?

If $500 of new reserves generates $1000 of new money in the economy, then the money multiplier is

Which of the following statements is correct regarding the admission of a new partner?

A new partner must purchase a partnership interest directly from the business.

A new partner always pays book value.

The right to participate in management of the business cannot be conveyed without the consent of other existing partners.

The right to share in profits and losses can be sold to a new partner without the consent of other existing partners.

Your Company is considering a new project that will require $880,000 of new equipment at the start of the project. The equipment will have a depreciable life of 5 years and will be depreciated to a book value of $300,000 using straight-line depreciation. The cost of capital is 13%, and the firm's tax rate is 21%. Estimate the present value of the tax benefits from depreciation.

• $116,000

• $91,640

• $85,680

• $24,360

DT is evaluating an alternative for a new piece of equipment. They estimate the new equipment will cost $164,000, last 4 years, and have a maintenance and operation cost of $55,000 per year with no salvage value. Using a MARR of 22% per year, what is the present worth?

New drugs are expensive in the U.S.

For example, there are new pain relievers to treat severe arthritis, but they cost $150 a month, nearly 20 times more than previous pain relievers. A new biotech drug, Enbrel, to treat rheumatoid arthritis can cost $1,500 a month.

Which factors have contributed most to the sharp increase in drug expenditures? Discuss all possible factors. Are rising drug expenditures necessarily bad? And how to control drug costs?

Kerfuffle Corporation is considering the purchase of a new computer system. The cost for the new system, net of set-up and delivery costs, will be $1.6 million. The new system will provide annual before-tax cost savings of $500,000 for the next five years. The increased efficiency of the new system will lower net working capital by $200,000 today. The CCA rate on the new system will be 30%. At the end of five years, the system can be salvaged for $100,000. The firm’s required rate of return is 15%, and its marginal tax rate is 35%. What is the NPV of this cost-cutting project?

Select one:

a. -$224,011.86

b. -$22,882.55

c. $15,174.10

d. $76,552.80

e. $563,744.59

Lemington Enterprises is considering a project to replace its fleet of 10 vehicles. The company makes its fleet replacement decision every five years. Its current fleet of 10 vehicles was purchased five years ago at $50,000 each, and can be sold for $8,000 each today. The new vehicles will cost $60,000 each and will bring cost savings of $100,000 per year. In five years, the new vehicles can be sold for $9,000 each. If the fleet is not replaced today, the current fleet will have no salvage value in five years’ time. The CCA rate on these vehicles is 30%, and the company’s marginal tax rate is 35%. What is the PV(CCATS) for this replacement project, assuming a required rate of return of 10%? Round your answer to the nearest dollar.

Select one:

a. $115,626

b. $135,672

c. $130,295

d. $13,567

e. $148,711

Monsoon Inc. is considering bidding on a government project. To do the project, the company must make an initial investment of $8 million to purchase the necessary equipment. The project will last for five years, at the end of which the equipment can be salvaged for $500,000. The equipment has a CCA rate of 30%. The bidding process for the project requires the firm to submit a bid for a constant amount of $X before-tax, to be remitted by the government to the winning bidder each year. The firm’s marginal tax rate is 40%, and the required rate of return on similar projects is 18%. What is the minimum bid that the firm should submit for this project? Round your answer to the nearest dollar.

Select one:

a. $8,000,000

b. $3,191,717

c. $1,915,030

d. $3,308,198

e. $5,988,626

gladstone is about to launch a new product. depedning on the success of the new product, gladstone may have one of four values next year: $155 million, $130 million, $97 million, or $82 million. these outcomes are equally likely and the risk is diversifiable. gladstone will not make any payouts to investors during the year. suppose the risk-free interest rate is 5.2% and assume perfect capital markets.

a) the intitial value of gladstones equity withut leverage is $______ million.

b) now suppose gladstone has zero-coupon debt with $100 million face value due next year. the initial value of gladstones debt is $_______

c) the yield-to-maturity of gladstones debt is $_______

d) the initial value of gladstones equity is $_______

e) gladstones total value with leverage is $________

Your company is considering a new project that will require $10,000 of new equipment at the start of the project. The equipment will have a depreciable life of five years and will be depreciated to a book value of $3,000 using straight-line depreciation. The cost of capital is 9 percent, and the firm's tax rate is 34 percent. Estimate the present value of the tax benefits from depreciation.

Which statement is true regarding cost-cutting proposals?

Kerfuffle Corporation is considering the purchase of a new computer system. The cost for the new system, net of set-up and delivery costs, will be $1.6 million. The new system will provide annual before-tax cost savings of $500,000 for the next five years. The increased efficiency of the new system will lower net working capital by $200,000 today. The CCA rate on the new system will be 30%. At the end of five years, the system can be salvaged for $100,000. The firm’s required rate of return is 15%, and its marginal tax rate is 35%. What is the NPV of this cost-cutting project?