1. A television CEO believes viewership of the evening news does not depend on age. She collects a random sample of 2000 television viewers across four different age groups and asks whether or not they watch the evening news. The results are as follows:

Watch              | 18 years old             19 to 35             36 to 54            55 years old

Evening News | or less                       years old            years old             or more

___________________________________________________________

Yes                  |           74                        96                                112 146

No                   |           426                      404                              388                  354

Test to see whether watching the evening news and age grouping are independent at the 0.05 level using the Chi-Square test. Conduct this test by hand and using the Chi-Square table instead of using Excel.

Question 1 - 1,500 words

The CEO has forwarded to you an interesting article and requires you to provide her with a deeper theoretical understanding of the issues discussed so that she can fully engage in the lively discourse at an upcoming conference.

You are required to find a newspaper article or web page report of an item of accounting news, i.e. it refers to a current event, consideration, comment or decision that has been published after the 1st of June 2018. Your article could also come from one of the professional journals. The article should not come from an academic journal. Academic journals generally do not contain news articles or articles of less than one page and are usually only published 2 or 4 times a year. Your article should also relate to a different issue to what you will be investigating in Question 2 (in other words, don't use an article about the exposure draft you will be using in question 2). If you are having a problem ensuring that your article is from an appropriate source contact your subject coordinator.

You then need to explain the article that you have found in your own words and clearly relate the concepts, ideas and facts within the article to one or more of the theories or topics that you have studied this session. Support your analysis of the assumptions and implications of the topic or theory as appropriate with reference to sources in APA 6 style. For example, this article from the Sydney Morning Herald in April 2016 could be linked to the topics of accounting regulation and measurement (and perhaps others). You must provide a copy of the article or web page, with details of the source, date and page number with your answer.

Central Adventures

Fatima Hopkins, the CEO of Central Adventures, is having difficulties with all three of her top management level employees. With one manager making questionable decisions, another threatening to leave, and the third likely ‘in the red’, Fatima is hoping there is a simple answer to all her difficulties. She is asking you (her accountant) for some advice on how to proceed.

Central Adventures owns and operates three amusement parks in Michigan: Funland, Waterworld, and Treetops. Central Adventures has a decentralized organizational structure, where each park is run as an investment center. Park managers meet with the CEO at least once annually to review their performance, where each park manager’s performance is measured by their park’s return on investment (ROI). The park manager then receives a bonus equal to 10% of their base salary for every ROI percentage point above the cost of capital.

Fatima’s first difficulty is with the Funland park. Funland is an outdoor theme park, with twelve roller coaster rides and several other attractions. This park has first opened 1965, and most of the rides have been in operation for 20+ years. Attendance at this park has been relatively stable over the past ten years. The park manager of Funland, Janet Lieberman, recently shared with Fatima a proposal to replace one of their older rides with a new roller coaster, a hybrid steel and wood roller coaster with a 90 degree, 200 foot drop and three inversions. The proposal indicated that the ride would cost $8,000,000 with an estimated life of 20 years. In addition, this new style of coaster would require additional maintenance and insurance, costing $125,000 each year. However, it projected that this new attraction would boost attendance, earning the park an additional $1,190,000 per year in revenues. Janet ultimately decided not to invest in this new attraction. Fatima (doing a quick mental calculation) saw that the investment had a payback period of eight years—much shorter than the life of the roller coaster—and is perplexed at Janet’s decision.

The second dilemma concerns the Waterworld park. Waterworld is an indoor water park, operating year-round. Run by park manager David Copperfield, Waterworld was built in 2016 and has increased attendance by 20% every year since. David recently sent you an email complaining that, based on the current bonus payout schedule, Janet Lieberman’s bonus last year was significantly higher than his. He points to the increasing attendance, and says that his park is being punished for having opened so recently (his park assets are much more recent than the roller coasters at Funland). He currently has an employment offer from another company at the same base pay rate, which he says he will accept if his performance is not appropriately acknowledged. Fatima needs to look at the relative performance across parks to determine how to proceed with David.

Central Treetops includes a high ropes course and has a series of ziplines that criss-cross over the Chippewa River. For many years, it was a popular venue for corporate team-building activities, so it is equipped with a main indoor facility with cafeteria and overnight guest rooms. This park has lost popularity in recent years, and has been ‘in the red’ for the past two years. If the park is not profitable this year, you will need to decide whether to close it - permanently. Included in the ‘Fixed COGS’ for Treetops is a $86,000 mortgage payment on the land and 9,351,510closed. Incidentally, you recently had a conversation with the regional head of the YMCA, who would like to open a summer camp in the central Michigan region. If you decided to close Treetops, you are fairly certain that you could lease that land to the YMCA for $250,000 annually.

A partial report of this year’s financial results for Central Adventures shows the following:

The ‘Selling and administrative costs’ are all incurred directly by each park, and are determined at the beginning of each year (that is, they do not change with the number of tickets sold). In addition to the information above, there are $2,542,920 in corporate costs, which are currently allocated evenly between the three parks. These costs are primarily due to employee benefits costs, which are billed at the corporate level. If the Treetops park is closed, the allocated corporate costs would decrease by $12,000. Central Adventures has a cost of capital of 12 percent (and Fatima uses the cost of capital as their required rate of return) and are subject to 18% income taxes.

Fatima needs to evaluate this year’s performance results before she can make any decisions. Is David’s complaint about the performance evaluation metrics valid? Is that also affecting management decisions in the form of Janet’s rejection of the proposed new rollercoaster? And is the company better off without Treetops? She sets off to the company accountant’s office to help get some answers.

Required:

Write your response in the form of a 1-2 page memo to Fatima Hopkins, from the perspective of the company accountant. Be sure to include all your financial analyses, clearly showing your calculations, to support your conclusions. Be sure to include the following points in your memo, and provide the appropriate financial analysis(es) to support your conclusions.

a.     Create a segmented income statement for Central Adventures.

b.     Calculate the current annual ROI, residual income and EVA for the three parks.

c.     Evaluate Janet Lieberman’s (the Funland park manager) decision. Explain why it was/was not in Central Adventure’s overall best interest for Funland to reject the new rollercoaster.

Was Robert Eaton a Good Coach?

Robert Eaton was CEO and chairman of Chrysler from 1993 to

1998, replacing Lee Iacocca who retired after serving in this

capacity since 1978. Eaton then served as cochairman of the

newly merged DaimlerChrysler organization from 1998 to 2000.

With 362,100 employees, DaimlerChrysler achieved revenues

of EUR 136.4 billion in 2003. DaimlerChrysler’s passenger car

brands include Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Jeep,

Dodge, and Smart. Commercial vehicle brands include

Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star, and Setra.

From the beginning of his tenure as CEO, Eaton communicated

with the people under him. He immediately shared

his plans for the future with his top four executives and then

took the advice of his colleague, Bob Lutz, to look around the

company before making any hasty decisions concerning the

state of affairs at Chrysler. Eaton and Lutz ascertained that

Chrysler was employing the right staff and that they did not

need to hire new people; they just had to lead them in a different

manner, that is, in a more participative style.

Eaton listened to everyone in the organization, including

executives, suppliers, and assembly-line workers, to

determine how to help the company succeed. Eaton also

encouraged the employees at Chrysler to talk with one

another. The atmosphere of collaboration and open-door

communication between Eaton and Lutz (the two men sat

across the hall from one another and never closed their doors)

permeated the entire organization. Eaton and Lutz’s walkaround

management style indicated to employees that they

were committed to and engaged in the organization.

Furthermore, Eaton and Lutz held meetings with their executive

team on a regular basis to exchange ideas and information

from all areas of the organization.

Eaton even reorganized the manner in which Chrysler

designed cars based on a study, previously disregarded by

Iacocca, that indicated that Chrysler needed to be more

flexible and its executives needed to be in constant communication

with the product design team. One employee was

quoted as saying, “Bob Eaton does not shoot the messenger

when he hears something he doesn’t like or understand. He

knows that not every idea is right. But Bob is off-the-wall

himself. . . . He’ll say something, and we’ll tell him that it’s a

crazy idea. . . . He may not change his mind in the end, but

he’ll spend the time explaining to you what is behind

his thought processes. Do you know what kind of confidence

that inspires?” This type of open communication at the top

proved extremely successful, as summed up by one

designer: “It’s a system that recognizes talent early and

rewards it, and that creates a sense of enthusiasm for your

work, and a sense of mission.”

Another program that Eaton describes as empowering

employees at Chrysler includes requiring all employees,

including executives, to participate in the process of building

a new vehicle. Eaton explains that this shows all of the employees

in the plant that executives are concerned about the

proper functioning of new cars, and it gives executives the

opportunity to understand and solve problems at the factory

level. Eaton states, “When we’re done with our discussions,

these guys know where we want to go and how we want to

get there, and they go back and put the action plans together

to do that. This goes for every single thing we do.” He concludes,

“Clearly at a company there has to be a shared

vision, but we try to teach people to be a leader in their own

area, to know where the company wants to go, to know how

that affects their area, to benchmark the best in the world,

and then set goals and programs to go after it. We also

encourage people not only to go after the business plan

objectives but to have stretch goals. And a stretch goal by

definition is a fifty-percent increase . . . . If we go after fifty

percent, something dramatic has to happen. You have to go

outside of the box.”

Based on the above description, please evaluate Bob

Eaton’s coaching skills using the accompanying table. If a

certain coaching behavior or function is missing, please

provide recommendations about what he could have done

more effectively.

Based on Case Study 9-1: Was Robert Eaton a Good Coach on pages 256-257 in the textbook and the Major Functions and Key Behaviors tables on page 257, evaluate Eaton’s coaching skills. In your response address the following elements:

What major functions were missing?

What key behaviors were missing?

Based on your evaluation, provide specific recommendations on how he could have been a more effective coach.

the text book is Performance Management (3rd Edition) - Herman Aguinis and the case study is as mentioned above

A new CEO who is determined to recover the fixed costs of his units, so he reduces the Period 1 bid to make sure they run.

1. What does this say about the wisdom of bidding below marginal cost in order to make sure units operate? (2 mark)

2. Do you agree with the new CEO’s view of how generating units recover their fixed costs in the market over time? What is your view of how generating units recover their fixed costs? (2 mark)

Fatima Hopkins, the CEO of Central Adventures, is having difficulties with all three of her top management level employees. With one manager making questionable decisions, another threatening to leave, and the third likely ‘in the red’, Fatima is hoping there is a simple answer to all her difficulties. She is asking you (her accountant) for some advice on how to proceed.

Central Adventures owns and operates three amusement parks in Michigan: Funland, Waterworld, and Treetops. Central Adventures has a decentralized organizational structure, where each park is run as an investment center. Park managers meet with the CEO at least once annually to review their performance, where each park manager’s performance is measured by their park’s return on investment (ROI). The park manager then receives a bonus equal to 10% of their base salary for every ROI percentage point above the cost of capital.

Fatima’s first difficulty is with the Funland park. Funland is an outdoor theme park, with twelve roller coaster rides and several other attractions. This park has first opened 1965, and most of the rides have been in operation for 20+ years. Attendance at this park has been relatively stable over the past ten years. The park manager of Funland, Janet Lieberman, recently shared with Fatima a proposal to replace one of their older rides with a new roller coaster, a hybrid steel and wood roller coaster with a 90 degree, 200 foot drop and three inversions. The proposal indicated that the ride would cost $8,000,000 with an estimated life of 20 years. In addition, this new style of coaster would require additional maintenance and insurance, costing $125,000 each year. However, it projected that this new attraction would boost attendance, earning the park an additional $1,190,000 per year in revenues. Janet ultimately decided not to invest in this new attraction. Fatima (doing a quick mental calculation) saw that the investment had a payback period of eight years—much shorter than the life of the roller coaster—and is perplexed at Janet’s decision.

The second dilemma concerns the Waterworld park. Waterworld is an indoor water park, operating year-round. Run by park manager David Copperfield, Waterworld was built in 2016 and has increased attendance by 20% every year since. David recently sent you an email complaining that, based on the current bonus payout schedule, Janet Lieberman’s bonus last year was significantly higher than his. He points to the increasing attendance, and says that his park is being punished for having opened so recently (his park assets are much more recent than the roller coasters at Funland). He currently has an employment offer from another company at the same base pay rate, which he says he will accept if his performance is not appropriately acknowledged. Fatima needs to look at the relative performance across parks to determine how to proceed with David.

Central Treetops includes a high ropes course and has a series of ziplines that criss-cross over the Chippewa River. For many years, it was a popular venue for corporate team-building activities, so it is equipped with a main indoor facility with cafeteria and overnight guest rooms. This park has lost popularity in recent years, and has been ‘in the red’ for the past two years. If the park is not profitable this year, you will need to decide whether to close it - permanently. Included in the ‘Fixed COGS’ for Treetops is a $86,000 mortgage payment on the land and buildings for the park, which would still need to be paid by Central Adventures if the park is closed. Incidentally, you recently had a conversation with the regional head of the YMCA, who would like to open a summer camp in the central Michigan region. If you decided to close Treetops, you are fairly certain that you could lease that land to the YMCA for $250,000 annually.

A partial report of this year’s financial results for Central Adventures shows the following:

The ‘Selling and administrative costs’ are all incurred directly by each park, and are determined at the beginning of each year (that is, they do not change with the number of tickets sold). In addition to the information above, there are $2,542,920 in corporate costs, which are currently allocated evenly between the three parks. These costs are primarily due to employee benefits costs, which are billed at the corporate level. If the Treetops park is closed, the allocated corporate costs would decrease by $12,000. Central Adventures has a cost of capital of 12 percent (and Fatima uses the cost of capital as their required rate of return) and are subject to 18% income taxes.

Fatima needs to evaluate this year’s performance results before she can make any decisions. Is David’s complaint about the performance evaluation metrics valid? Is that also affecting management decisions in the form of Janet’s rejection of the proposed new rollercoaster? And is the company better off without Treetops? She sets off to the company accountant’s office to help get some answers.

a.     Create a segmented income statement for Central Adventures.

b.     Calculate the current annual ROI, residual income and EVA for the three parks.

c.    why it was/was not in Central Adventure’s overall best interest for Funland to reject the new rollercoaster.

d.     is David Copperfield’s (the Waterworld park manager) complaint valid? Explain why it is (or is not valid), and what further information would be necessary.

e.     why should they close/ not close treetops.

f.      what should you recommend she do to improve the evaluation of park manager performance measurement at Central Adventures.

The CEO of Ferguson Inc. wants its executives to make the organization more environmentally friendly by encouraging employees to reduce waste in the workplace. Government legislation is coming that will require all companies of this size to have a program in place and the company’s customers also expect it. The CEO wants to significantly reduce paper usage, garbage and other waste throughout the company’s many widespread offices. Unfortunately, a survey indicates that employees do not value environmental objectives and do not know how to “reduce, reuse, recycle.” As the executive responsible for this change, you have been asked to develop a strategy that might bring about meaningful behavioural change towards this environmental goal. What would you do?

Questions

1. Based on the case above, and according to Lewin’s Model for Managing Change - what are 2 Forces for the status quo (or restraining forces)?

2. Using Lewin’s Model for Managing Change, how would you go about implementing and managing the change at Ferguson Inc. – answer a. and b.

a.Explain each phase – Unfreezing, Moving and Refreezing

b.and list one action that you would implement for each phase to accomplish your change.

Case Quetion: You are the CEO of a 500- employee organization, which manufactures coats and jackets (winter fleece, dress wool and light rain wear for U.S.market. what organizational structure( functional,product,geographic, customer or hybrid)will you select, and why

1-Explain 4 reason

2-how will you utilize or integrate the matrix structure into you organization design?Explain.(1-point)

You are the CEO of United Airlines and you have had a pretty difficult month. First, you kicked young women off of a plane because they were wearing yoga pants, then you forcefully dragged a doctor off a plane against his will. While your stock price has mostly rebounded, you a loss of value of $1 billion the day after the incident with the doctor. You know your organization needs a culture change. Apply Kotter’s 8-step model of change,to the United organization – what would be your strategy for remaking the organization? Be as specific as you can.

Scenario: You are the CEO of MegaGlobe Business Solutions, a financial consulting corporation based in Chicago that has just recently opened new offices in São Paulo, Brazil and Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. As part of this transition, your employees will now be working collaboratively with employees at these locations to provide financial consulting services in these new markets. To assist with the transition, you will develop an internal leadership blog for your employees that addresses the implications of leading within a culturally-diverse and changing global business environment. This blog should focus on the need to positively adapt to a variety of leadership styles and individual differences within these cultures.

View the videos listed in this week's classroom materials for ideas about how to effectively lead, motivate, and communicate with your employees about the need to adapt within this changing business environment.

Write a 700- to 1,050-word internal leadership blog using the Leadership Blog template, and include the following:

Explain the implications of leading within a changing global business environment.

Describe the Team Leadership Model and how this relates to your current business practices.

Outline positive aspects of gender, diversity, culture, and teamwork that can improve overall business performance.

Apply principles of motivational leadership within a variety of diverse cultures.

Use at least one image, photo, chart, or graph to deliver a key concept within your blog.