In this reflection paper, you are to critically engage the topic of the social construction of identity in your life.

Please discuss and provide examples of how at least one of your identities (i.e., religious, gender, ethnic, racial, class, sexual orientation, disability and/or age, among others) is shaped, or has been shaped, by cultural and societal influences within contexts of equality and inequality. 700-800 words

BB.co is a construction company that at the moment was fully financed with assets. The new manager suggests that shareholders include debt in their financial structure as this increases the value of the company. The company has an EBIT of $100 each year. Their equity is valued (that is, the price of their shares) so that their expected return is 10% and the corporate tax rate is 20%. The company can indebt at the risk-free rate, 4%. Suppose the EBIT is perpetual and a Modigliani-Miller world with taxes. How much would the value of the company increase if BB.co is indebted permanently so that its debt represents 50% of the value of the assets of the company?

The length of a construction part manufactured by a supplier follows a normal distribution with an unknown σ. The design length is 35.00 centimeters. Seven parts were randomly selected from the warehouse and measured. The actual lengths in centimeters were as follows: Part 1: 34.46 Part 2: 37.17 Part 3: 38.03 Part 4: 39.91 Part 5: 34.86 Part 6: 35.41 Part 7: 40.43

(a)[7] At α = 0.04, test to see if a typical manufactured part would conform to the design length. Make sure to define the hypotheses first, make a sketch of the test, and then carry out the test. (b)[3] Sketch and find the p‐value of the test. Would you reject the null if α = 0.07. Hint: Use 5 decimal places. Use some Excel lookups for values and probabilities.

What is wrong with the Ukrainian economy?

Construction is booming in Kyiv, Ukraine, but not the rest of the economy. A major reason is that Ukrainians with some extra savings do not put their money into banks but buy additional apartments instead. Others keep their savings in cash. On average, Ukrainian MPs keep $700,000 at home. Those who have a lot of wealth transfer it to offshore havens, where the money is safe.

Ukraine is now the poorest country in Europe. According to the International Monetary Fund, Ukraine overtook Moldova as the poorest country in Europe as measured in GDP per capita in 2018 at $2,963, 8 percent less than in Moldova. These numbers can be boosted in many ways. Probably half of the Ukrainian economy goes unreported in official statistics, and prices in Ukraine are so low that one gets much more for a dollar there than elsewhere. Still, the growth rate has been around 3 percent a year for the last three years, and the IMF predicts a similar rate even for the long term. A poor country with macroeconomic stability and open access to the large European market should be growing steadily by 7 percent annually.

What is wrong? Usually, the discussion focuses on what the state does, but there’s a better way to understand how the economy really functions: follow the money.

Ukraine has a steady net capital outflow of about 4 percent of GDP each year. Foreigners see what is going on, and real foreign direct investment has been as little as 1 percent of GDP for the last five years. Naturally, the war has scared many away, but that is hardly the main reason why FDI remains flat. Instead, Ukraine should have FDI of 4-5 percent of GDP. Then the investment ratio would not be 20 percent of GDP but 28-30 percent of GDP, which is the difference between 3 and 7 percent growth.

There is little or no financing available for business. By and large, business investment is based on retained earnings. Since 2014, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has closed 100 of the then 180 commercial banks. In many cases, the owners of the bank had taken most of the loans, and large deposit holders lost their money. In other cases, the banks specialized in money laundering, and some functioned just like holding companies.

But the banking system has not been cured. Because of the many bank failures, state banks now account for 58 percent of all banking assets. Interest rates are prohibitively high. The NBU just cut its interest rate to 17.5 percent a year, while inflation is just over 8 percent. The lowest commercial borrowing rates in hryvnia are 22 percent, which means that the real interest rate is at least 14 percent a year. That is far too high for investment, so bank loans are not financing investment. In spite of very high deposit rates, banks do not attract many deposits either.

The banks’ primary problem is that their biggest clients do not pay. In total, non-performing loans in the Ukrainian banking system are more than 50 percent. The reason is that Ukraine has a few hundred people who consider themselves too superior to pay, and unfortunately the Ukrainian judiciary agrees. In particular, 427 members of parliament enjoy legal immunity and probably two-thirds of them are businessmen. Others have simply very good relations with the relevant parts of the law enforcement apparatus. European elites behaved like that in the 18^th century. It was only in the 19^th century when the playing field was leveled that Europe started growing.

Herein lies the critical shortcoming of the Ukrainian economy. First, parliamentary immunity has to be abolished. People should join the parliament to become politicians, not businessmen.

Second, Ukraine needs to redo the failed judicial reform so that all Supreme Court judges can be verified as honest people. The same is true of the general prosecutor’s office. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) must no longer deal with economic crimes. Its 8,000 or so officers that work in that department should be laid off. Most of them have earned more than they will need for their retirement.

Third, the best collateral for a bank loan island or real estate. However, today agricultural land cannot be used as collateral, because of the moratorium on private land sales. If that is finally lifted, the banks could give far more credit to agriculture, which could double its output.

Then, banks could start to function normally and attract both capital and deposits. The market would bring down interest rates. The state banks could attract investors and be privatized. If a property in Ukraine would be deemed safe, capital outflows would dwindle and instead be invested in the Ukrainian economy. Foreigners would see the transformation and want to join the Ukrainian growth party.

Anders Åslund is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and author of the forthcoming book “Russia’s Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy.” Follow him on Twitter @anders_aslund.

The views expressed in UkraineAlert are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.

1) Why is Ukraine becoming more unstable?

2) What factors have contributed to the instability?

3) How would Europe's economy look like if nothing is done in Ukraine?

4) Do you believe that Ukraine could once be a regional economic powerhouse in Eastern Europe? Why or why not?

a) The design specifications for a small PVC liner for a construction project calls for a thickness of 3.0 mm  0.1 mm. The standard deviation of the process is 0.02 mm. What are the upper and lower specification limits for this product? The process is known to operate at a mean thickness of 3.0 mm. What is the Cpk for this process? Is the process capable of meeting design specification?   

b) The following jobs are waiting to be processed at Spence’s Auto Repairs. These five jobs were logged as they arrived. Assume that all jobs arrived on day 180 and today is day 200.

Using the Critical Ratio scheduling rule, what sequence would the jobs be processed. [5 points]

An article presents an analysis of the profit of international construction projects. In a sample of 126 projects, the average profit margin (in percent) was 8.27 with a standard deviation of 16.33. A test is made of H₀ : μ ≥ 10 versus H₁ : μ < 10.

- Find the P-value. Round the answer to four decimal places.

This is what i have, but for some reason I'm being told it is wrong.

(8.27 - 10 ) / (16.33 / sqrt 126) = -1.879 - -> -1.88 -- > Z = .0301

- The P-value calculated for testing H₀ : µ ≥ 10 versus H₁ : µ < 10 is not a small probability, hence it is plausible that the mean profit margin is 10% or more. False.

Company A is a construction company and is a new audit client of your firm. It has never been audited but a different accounting firm performed a review engagement for y/e 31 Dec 2016. Your firm is auditing A’s financial statements for y/e 31 Dec 2017.

Company A is privately owned by the Jones family in Country X, using the X$ currency. The president, VP, secretary/treasurer, controller and various levels of managers are all family members.

All management employees who must travel to job sites (including 9 family members) are assigned company-owned cars for their personal use. The company has a total of 80 company cars. Employees have access to these cars at all times, and the cars do not need to be returned to the company parking yard except for periodic servicing.

The company also owns vans and trucks that are used by various company employees to transport equipment, supplies, labour, and material to and from job sites. These vehicles are stored at the company facilities when not in use and are never available for personal use.

The company also has a number of special-use heavy vehicles that are used at job sites and stored at the job site or in the parking yard of the company.

As part of the 2017 audit, you have been assigned the task of auditing fuel expense. The general ledger fuel expense account shows X$317,224. According to the client, the 2016 figure was X$375,542.

Your audit manager has asked you to perform some form of analytical procedure on fuel expense. Company A’s staff has gathered the following information for you:

Other information:
Cars and pickup trucks run on petrol, which has averaged $3.05/gallon during 2017. All other vehicles use diesel. You have determined the typical diesel price increases during 2017 as below.
* 1 person-day = 8 hours
** According to the construction foreman, these are in continual usage every day a job is in progress. The company has been extremely busy but crews do not work overtime or weekends

Required:

1. What is (are) the primary management assertion(s) related to fuel expense in this case?

2. What is your team’s $ value estimate for Company A’s fuel expense for 2017?

3. What is your conclusion – is the client’s fuel expense misstated (over/under-stated)? Why/why

not? Do you recommend a correcting journal entry be put through?

4. What further information would you need to assist you in arriving at a conclusion for

Requirement 2?

A project manager, in preparation for the construction of roads, has identified the activities and their durations to prepare a difficult stretch of motorway (as in the following table).

1. How long the project will take?   
2. State the critical activities.   
3. If activity A is delayed for 10 days, what is the effect on the project duration?   

Maggie bought a house which was quite a dump in 1989 for $75,000. She fixed it up with paint and wallpaper but in 1996 she did a major renovation which cost $50,000. In 1993, she bought a dump of a cottage for $35,000 because it was both on a lake and near some good cross-country ski trails. She winterized it immediately for $10,000. Over time, the dumpy cottage has become quite attractive with the addition of a new roof, siding, windows and doors all of which cost $15,000 in 1995. In addition, she is fond of landscaping and has created quite a beautiful garden. I might add that Maggie has only $40,000 in RRSPs since she prefers to sink her money into her living space.

In July 2006, Maggie lost her job and received $60,000 in severance pay. She put as much as she could into her RRSP (included in the $40,000 above) and put the rest in GICs to help finance her plan. Maggie had been taking courses for several years to become a Master Gardener.

When she lost her job, she decided to live out her dream of having a gardening business where she would design gardens for others with cottages near her and maintain them if they needed it because they mostly come to their cottages on the weekend to relax. In the winter, she will keep the lanes clear (with her snow blower) and check up on the cottages now and again. She gave her corporate clothes to her friend Kate with the proviso that she could stay with her when she comes to the City (which won’t be often because she is very fed up).

When she lost her job, she immediately started renting out the house for $1,600 a month plus utilities. She still has to pay the $2,400 a year taxes and maintenance but figures the house will be her retirement fund. When she started renting out the house, it immediately ceased to be her principal residence – her cottage is now her principal residence. In July 2006, her house was worth $300,000 and the cottage is worth $140,000.

Questions:

a.     Maggie’s house increases in value at about 3% a year from 2006 and she sells it in 2017. How much is her taxable capital gain on the house ignoring real estate commissions?

b.    Maggie’s cottage also increases 3% a year in value. If she also sells it in 2017 in order to buy a bed and breakfast, how much is her taxable capital gain?