We will use El Paso information for our python script to compute property taxes for a home. We will default and use the Ysleta Independent School District tax rate for our school (more complete lookups will allow you to compute taxes based on exact address.) The taxing entities, and their respective tax rates per $100 is shown below:

Jurisdiction Total Rate ($) per $100

YSLETA ISD 1.3533

CITY OF EL PASO 0.907301

COUNTY OF EL PASO 0.488997

UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER OF EL PASO 0.267747

EL PASO COMMUNITY COLLEGE 0.141167

Python Script Instructions: Create a loop that will allow the user to input a property value and calculate its related tax payment. Output property information as described below. The user will be asked to continue for another property or quit.

This will be a script broken into functions. It must include (may include more):

• Main function • Calculate property tax function

• Output information function called from Calculate function. Output will include the amount for each jurisdiction, and amount owed per year.

Other important information: We will assume each property value is eligible for a 10% Homestead Exemption of the property’s value. For example, if a property value is $100,000, the person would receive an exemption of $10,000. Their property taxes would be calculated on $90,000.

Don’t forget the rate is applied per $100 (i.e. you have to divide the amount for each jurisdiction you calculated by 100)

Sample calculation: Property value: $175,000 Yearly taxes owed: $4,974.66

As she sat in her Accounting I class bored while listening to the lecture on journal entries, Annabelle could not imagine being an accountant in the future. As a young girl, she remembered sitting in the kitchen while her mom and aunts baked those delicious Jamaican black cakes. She remembered that the cakes sold very quickly especially at Christmas time and that people were traveling from as far away as Florida to buy them. Her mom learned to bake from her mother, and she wrote down the cake recipes in case Annabelle or one of her siblings decided to follow in her footsteps. However, Annabelle chose to follow in her dad’s path and so she enrolled in college with plans to become an accountant. Her two older sisters where already studying to be a lawyer and a dentist.

Annabelle had an epiphany as she sat in class, she would leave school at the end of the semester to open up a bakery specializing in Jamaican black cakes. Annabelle anticipated that most of her business would be based on special order, customized cakes. She anticipated selling cakes for family weekend gatherings, birthday and wedding celebrations, and holiday gatherings. She wanted to have a few cakes available in a store to appeal to the drop-in customer.

In December 2017 Annabelle followed her plans; she dropped out of college, created a business plan, and incorporated as Annabelle’s Bakery Inc. Annabelle planned to open her business on January 1, 2018. She would use $50,000 inheritance from her mom as startup capital and receive a minimal salary of $500 per month for the first year of business. Uncle David, a marketing executive with a national bank, agreed to provide her with marketing support pro-bono.

Annabelle found the perfect location for her business. A take-out restaurant on the busy intersection of Jamaica and Hillside Avenues in Queens, NY, became available after a bitter divorce between the owners. The landlord was impressed with Annabelle’s vision and agreed to pay for all renovations and charge her $600 per month for rent.

Cost Classification (Task #1)

Her first action plan was to list all the key products or items that she would need to start the business. Annabelle’s list included a conventional oven, a cash register, baking pans, business licenses, health inspections, flour, sugar, baking soda, raisins, butter, eggs and rum. She also planned on hiring her accounting professor on a part-time basis to perform bookkeeping services and her nieces Brianna and Alexis, to help her in the bakery. Aunt Sue Ellen would supervise the girls so that Annabelle could focus on developing the business. Annabelle’s cost drivers are provided in Table 1.

Annabelle needs your help in classifying the various costs. In order to manage these
costs, she wants them identified using the information below. She asked that you use Table 2 for your answers.

Required:
1. Using the Excel template provided, classify Annabelle’s costs using the categories below:

a) Behavior (fixed or variable)

b) Traceability (direct or indirect)

c) Financial reporting (product or period)

o If product cost, identify which items are direct materials, direct labor or manufacturing overhead.

FRUGAL SANITARY TOWELS

ARUNACHALAM MURUGANANTHAM AIMS TO TRANSFORM THE LIVES OF INDIAN WOMEN WITH A FUNDAMENTAL INNOVATION

High school drop-out and welder Arunachalam Muruganantham has developed a low-cost sanitary towel the hard way. In India, only 12 percent of women can afford to use sanitary towels for their monthly periods, the rest making do with old rags and even husks or sand. As Muruganantham’s wife explained to him, if she bought the expensive sanitary towels on the market, the family would have to do without milk. But the cost for many women is infections and even cervical cancer. Muruganantham determined to find a cheap way of supplying Indian women with proper sanitary towels. In Indian society, however, the issue was taboo. The local hospital was unhelpful, and even Muruganantham’s wife and sisters refused to talk about the problem. A survey of college girls failed. Muruganantham’s prototypes were scorned by his wife. At his wits’ end, Muruganantham experimented on himself, carrying a bladder inflated with goat’s blood while wearing one of his own sanitary towels and women’s undergarments. His tests while walking and cycling around the village created a local scandal. His wife moved out. Muruganantham characterized the issue as a ‘triple-A problem – Affordability, Availability and Awareness’. But after four years of research, he finally built a machine for producing sanitary towels at less than half the price of those offered by rivals such as Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. The machines are cheap and handoperated, enabling small-scale local production by units employing six to ten women each. Muruganantham believes that the small businesses using his machines could create up to one million jobs: ‘The model of massproduction is outdated. Now it is about production by the mass of people.’ Muruganantham sells the machines to NGOs, local entrepreneurs, charities and selfhelp groups, who produce the sanitary towels without fancy marketing. A manual machine costs around 75,000 Indian rupees (£723, €868, $1084) – a semi-automated machine costs more. Often the women who make the towels are the best marketers, passing on the benefits by wordof-mouth. Towels are often sold singly rather than in bulk packets and are even sold through barter. Muruganantham explains the marketing: ‘It’s done silently and even the male members of their families don’t know.’ Slowly but surely his machines spread all over India with operations in 23 states. By 2015, his company, Jayaashree Industries, had expanded to 17 other countries including Kenya, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Myanmar. He employs over 20,000 women in rural India and the enterprise has been valued at over a billion dollars by some analysts. Muruganantham has become a globally renowned frugal innovator and motivational speaker. His machine was entered in a competition for a national innovation award and came first out of 943 entries; he received the award by the then President of India. He was also ranked by Time magazine as one of 100 most influential people in the world in 2014 and was invited to give a lecture at Harvard. His wife has moved back in with him. Muruganantham was confident about the sustainability of his model: ‘We compete very comfortably with the big giants (such as Procter & Gamble). That’s why they call me the corporate bomber.

Q1

- Identify the various features of Muruganantham’s approach that make his sanitary towel business a typical or not so typical ‘frugal innovation?

Your CPA firm has been contracted by the State of Texas to serve as the internal audit function for The State Board for Educator Certification. The certification board is organized into four broad areas: educator preparation, assessment and accountability, certification, and professional discipline, which includes investigations and enforcement.

Educator preparation. In the area of educator preparation, the certification board works primarily with entities preparing educators for state certification. The work includes guidance in program development, approval, and implementation. The board currently serves 70 universities, 16 community colleges, and 30 alternative teacher certification programs. The board also advises entities interested in initiating educator preparation programs. The certification board is involved in reviewing program approval procedures to streamline the process while maintaining the integrity of program review.

Assessment and accountability. State law requires that individuals pass examinations in the areas in which they seek certification. The certification board manages the development and administration of the Examination for the Certification of Educators in Texas (ExCET), Texas Examinations for Master Teachers (TExMaT), Texas Examinations of Educator Standards (TExES), Texas Oral Proficiency Test (TOPT), and Texas Assessment of Sign Communication (TASC) and (TASC-ASL) testing programs. Individuals typically take the TExES Pedagogy & Professional Responsibilities test and additional tests in the academic disciplines in which they seek certification after completing a program of preparation for the specific certificate(s). These tests assess the prospective educator’s knowledge of academic content and teaching, including understanding of learners. Test development and review of current tests is ongoing. Passing standards are reviewed periodically and recommendations from these reviews are presented to the board. The board sets the minimum score required to pass each certification test. Assessment professionals work with school district and educator preparation program staff to identify committee members for these activities.

The certification board monitors the quality of educator preparation at university and alternative certification programs through the Accountability System for Educator Preparation (ASEP). The certification board uses assessment data (TExES, ExCET, TExMaT, TOPT, TASC, and TASC-ASL) and the subsequent performance of beginning teachers to determine program quality and issue annual accreditation reports according to minimum acceptable performance levels established by the board.

Certification. The certification board is responsible for ensuring that educators are qualified to serve in the Texas public school system through:

? Issuing educator credentials to applicants who have completed the appropriate degree and have a standard credential from another state or another country.

? Issuing educator credentials to applicants who have completed requirements for certification at a Texas educator preparation program.

? Certifying applicants adding certification based on completion of the appropriate

examination(s).

? Issuing educator credentials to educational aides.

? Issuing emergency and nonrenewable permits to school districts and reviewing and approving hardship permits.

? Analyzing and disseminating data on certificate and permit activity.

? Coordinating applicant criminal investigations.

? Advising school district staff on assignment criteria for hiring appropriately certified

individuals.

Professional discipline. The certification board ensures that Texas educators meet the highest

standards of professionalism and ethical behavior. Through its enforcement of disciplinary rules and the Educators’ Code of Ethics, the board investigates allegations of educator misconduct to guarantee the safety and well-being of Texas school children and fellow educators. When determining whether sanctions against a certificate are warranted, the board conducts a thorough investigation and provides the educator an opportunity to be heard. Cases that are not resolved informally through agreed orders may result in informal hearings before the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH).

Your firm uses a business process approach to internal auditing.

A. Identify five functions/processes involved in achieving the mission of The State Board for

Educator Certification (5 points).

B. Identify which of the functions/processes you consider most critical. Explain your reasoning (2 points).

C. Identify four risks to the function/process identified as most critical in B above. Rank the four risks (1 = highest). For each risk, identify a key control that could be implemented to mitigate the risk (6 points).

Internal auditing: assurance & advisory services 4th edition

A 401(k) is a retirement savings plan sponsored by an employer. It lets workers save and invest a piece of their paycheck before taxes are taken out. Taxes aren’t paid until the money is withdrawn from the account. 401(k) plans, named for the section of the tax code that governs them, arose during the 1980s as a supplement to pensions. Most employers used to offer pension funds. Pension funds were managed by the employer and they paid out a steady income over the course of the retirement. (If you have a government job or a strong union, you might still be eligible for a pension.) But as the cost of running pensions escalated, employers started replacing them with 401(k)s. While experts advise that workers need to save about 15 percent of their annual salaries each year to be able to retire comfortably, many, if not most, do not save that much. In an attempt to change those’ behaviors, some employers are raising their contributions, both to attract and retain employees, and also to ensure that older workers retire on time to make room for younger ones. Read more about this issue here in an article in the Wall Street Journal about how some companies are approaching this issue. (Link no longer working) Additionally, in Pennsylvania, state lawmakers have been working to reform the current pension plan into a 401(k) style plan for future state workers and school employees due to the rising debt from unfunded liability running close to $8 billion (they didn't put money into the pension plan that they knew they needed to put in and spent it instead). However, with this reform, current lawmakers had an option to change to this new plan they were requiring all new lawmakers to choose, and the vast majority are choosing to stay with the pension rather than convert to the 401(k) option (although there are several that opt out entirely). This is in addition to being the second-highest paid in the nation with a $183 per day per diem. Think about the following when formulating a response to this topic: Will generous 401(k) contributions attract and retain top talent? Why or why not? During the Great Recession (2007-2009) many employers suspended or reduced their contributions to 401(k) plans. Should a firm's contributions be tied to its financial results each year? Will automatic enrollment of all new hires and current employees in 401(k) plans, coupled with increasing contributions each year (unless an employee opts out), actually boost savings? Should employees be able to take loans from their 401(k) plans during their working years?

Mary Itzoff is a scholarship soccer player at Local University. During the summer she works at a youth all-sport camp that several of the university’s coaches operate. The sports camp runs for eight weeks during July & August. Campers come for a one-week period, during which time they live in the university’s dormitories and use the athletic fields and facilities. At the end of a week a new group of players/campers comes in.

Mary serves primarily as one of the camp soccer instructors. However, she has also been placed in charge of arranging for sheets for the beds the campers will sleep on in the dormitories. Mary has been instructed to develop a plan for purchasing and cleaning sheets each week of camp at the lowest possible cost.

Clean sheets are needed at the beginning of each week, and the campers use the sheets all week. At the end of the week campers strip their beds and place their sheets in large bin. Mary must arrange either to purchase new sheets or clean old sheets. A set of new sheets costs $10.00. A local laundry has indicated it will clean a set of sheets for $4.00. Also a couple of Mary’s friends have asked her to let them clean some of the sheets. They have told her they will only charge $2.00 for each set of sheets. However, the laundry will provide cleaned sheets in a week, Mary’s friends can only deliver cleaned sheets in two weeks. They are going to summer school and plan to launder the sheets at night in a neighbourhood laundromat.

The following number of campers have registered during each of the eight weeks will operate

Based on the discussions with camp administrators from previous summers and on some old camp records and receipts, Mary estimates that about 20% of the cleaned sheets that are returned will have to be discarded and replaced. The campers spill food and drinks on the sheets, and sometimes the stains will not come out of the sheets during cleaning. Also, the campers occasionally tear the sheets or the sheets can be torn at the cleaners. In either case, when sheets come back from the cleaners and are put on the beds, 20% are taken off and thrown away.

At the beginning of the summer, the camp has no sheets available, so initially sheets must be purchased. Sheets are thrown away at the end of the summer.

Mary’s major at Local University is operations management, and she wants to develop a plan for purchasing and cleaning sheets using linear programming. Help Mary formulate a linear programming model for the problem, and solve it using Excel.

Jeffrey Wang, a CPA and an auditor, makes the following comment, “The audit process is all about gathering evidence. A key part of the process is to gather evidence efficiently and effectively.” What exactly does Jeffrey mean by this comment?

Question 2

You have been asked by the accounting teacher at the local high school to explain to students interested in accounting why society needs auditors. Briefly outline your response.

Question 3

Required

For each of the following independent situations, state whether the CPA has violated the CHARTERED PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANTS OF ONTARIO Professional Rules of Conduct and/or Independence Standard, and explain your reasoning.

a. Emily, CPA, owns a material amount of units in a mutual fund that owns stock in Emily’s largest audit client. Reading the mutual fund’s most recent financial report, Emily learned that the mutual fund significantly increased its holdings in her client.

b. Martha, CPA, has a practice with two departments. One department performs assurance services and the other performs bookkeeping services. One of her publicly accountable audit clients lost its controller and the bookkeeping department provided controllership services for 30 days while the company searched for a new controller. As this was an emergency, it was necessary for Martha’s firm to provide the service because it has an intimate knowledge of the client’s system.

c. Emma, CPA, is the auditor for Nestco (a public company) and recommends that the company improve its internal controls. She accepts a 90-day engagement to design and implement new controls and to train company staff on them.

d. Harry, a CPA student, is currently employed by a CPA firm in public practice. He accepts a 15% discount on purchases from an audit client. Harry believes that he has not violated the Rules of Conduct because he is not yet a CPA member and the discount is at the same percentage that is available to the client’s own staff members.

e. Irene, CPA, provides various services for Simply Fashion Inc., a privately held company. She completes all of Simply Fashion Inc.’s tax work, including preparing the annual corporate tax filing and performing tax consulting services. Recently Simply Fashion Inc. began negotiations for a new bank loan, and a condition of the loan is that Simply Fashion must provide the bank with audited financial statements on an annual basis. Simply Fashion has asked Irene to complete the annual audit and to continue to perform the tax services she already performs. Irene accepted the engagement, and in order to improve audit efficiency, she has assigned the team that completes the tax work to the financial statement audit.

Assume you are starting a new business involving the manufacture and sale of a new product. Raw materials costs are $45 per product. Direct labor costs are expected to be $26 per product, Manufacturing Overhead is expected to cost $16 per product. You expect to sell each product for $176. You plan to produce 110 products next month and expect to sell 85 products. During the second month, you plan to produce 130 products but expect sales in the month to be 110 products. During the third month you expect to produce 120 products but sell 145 products Prepare a production schedule (units & dollars), and finished goods inventory schedule (units & dollars), and the top part of an income statement (sales, cost of goods sold and gross profit) for the three months.

Managers of CVS Pharmacy are considering a new project. This project would be a new store in Odessa, Texas. They estimate the following expected net cash flows if the project is adopted. Year 0: ($1,250,000) Year 1: $200,000 Year 2: $500,000 Year 3: $400,000 Year 4: $300,000 Year 5: $200,000 Suppose that the appropriate discount rate for this project is 7.7%, compounded annually. Calculate the net present value for this proposed project. Do not round at intermediate steps in your calculation. Round your answer to the nearest dollar. If the NPV is negative, include a minus sign. Do not type the $ symbol.