Vic Corporation refines petrol and sells it through its own petrol gas stations. On the basis of market research, Vic Corporation determines that 60% of the overall petrol market consists of “service-oriented customers,” medium- to high-income individuals who are willing to pay a higher price for gas if the gas stations can provide excellent customer service, such as a clean facility, a convenience store, friendly employees, a quick turnaround, the ability to pay by credit card, and high-octane premium petrol. The remaining 40% of the overall market are “price shoppers” who look to buy the cheapest petrol available. Vic Corporation’s strategy is to focus on the 60% of service-oriented customers. Vic Corporation’s balanced scorecard for 2018 follows. For brevity, the initiatives taken under each objective are omitted.

Required:

1. Was Vic Corporation successful in implementing its strategy in 2018? Explain your answer.
2. Would you have included some measure of employee satisfaction and employee training in the learning-and growth perspective? Are these objectives critical to Vic Corporation for implementing its strategy? Why or why not? Explain briefly.
3. Explain how Vic Corporation did not achieve its target market share in the total gasoline market but still exceeded its financial targets. Is “market share of overall gasoline market” the correct measure of market share? Explain briefly.
4. Do you agree with Vic Corporation’s decision not to include measures of changes in operating income from productivity improvements under the financial perspective of the balanced scorecard? Explain briefly.

2. You are designing a puzzle video game that requires fast reaction skills. Note that games such as this can be used in medical settings as methods of psychological and mental assessment, and do not only have uses for entertainment.

You are creating a game where players are supposed to do a simple task, but the simple task changes when the background colour of the game changes, which happens unpredictably. There are four possible background colours, where players are told that each one is associated with a specific described task for them to complete. One round of the game consists of each background colour appearing once in a random order (for example, red, green, blue, yellow). The length of time that a background colour lasts before it changes has an Exponential distribution with parameter λ, but you have not decided on the value of λ yet. If Ti is the length of time that the ith background colour lasts, then Ti ∼ Exp(λ).

(a) Recall that one ‘round’ of the game consists of all four background colours appearing once each. First, define a new random variable for the length of time that a round lasts, and express it in terms of the Ti random variables. Second, state the distribution of the new random variable in terms of λ. Third, suggest a value for λ such that the expected length of time for a single round would be 12 seconds.

(b) If this game was being used in a medical setting to assess mental attentiveness or reaction time, then there might be worry that a single round of the game would be a poor assessment of the desired trait in the patient. Collecting more information would be better, and it might also be better to vary the order that the coloured backgrounds appear. You decide that the game will have multiple rounds, and there will be one round for every single possible order that the four colours can appear in (i.e., there will be one ‘red, green, blue, yellow’ round, one ‘green, red, yellow, blue’ round, etc.). In between each round, there will be 2 seconds of black screen time to offer a moment for the patient to gather themselves. Calculate the expected length of a whole game from start to finish, using your suggested λ from Part (a). Do not include any black screen time before the first round or after the last round.

Vic Corporation refines petrol and sells it through its own petrol gas stations. On the basis of market research, Vic Corporation determines that 60% of the overall petrol market consists of “service-oriented customers,” medium- to high-income individuals who are willing to pay a higher price for gas if the gas stations can provide excellent customer service, such as a clean facility, a convenience store, friendly employees, a quick turnaround, the ability to pay by credit card, and high-octane premium petrol. The remaining 40% of the overall market are “price shoppers” who look to buy the cheapest petrol available. Vic Corporation’s strategy is to focus on the 60% of service-oriented customers. Vic Corporation’s balanced scorecard for 2018 follows. For brevity, the initiatives taken under each objective are omitted.

Required:

1. Was Vic Corporation successful in implementing its strategy in 2018? Explain your answer.
2. Would you have included some measure of employee satisfaction and employee training in the learning-and growth perspective? Are these objectives critical to Vic Corporation for implementing its strategy? Why or why not? Explain briefly.
3. Explain how Vic Corporation did not achieve its target market share in the total gasoline market but still exceeded its financial targets. Is “market share of overall gasoline market” the correct measure of market share? Explain briefly.
4. Do you agree with Vic Corporation’s decision not to include measures of changes in operating income from productivity improvements under the financial perspective of the balanced scorecard? Explain briefly.

1.Vic Corporation refines petrol and sells it through its own petrol gas stations. On the basis of market research, Vic Corporation determines that 60% of the overall petrol market consists of “service-oriented customers,” medium- to high-income individuals who are willing to pay a higher price for gas if the gas stations can provide excellent customer service, such as a clean facility, a convenience store, friendly employees, a quick turnaround, the ability to pay by credit card, and high-octane premium petrol. The remaining 40% of the overall market are “price shoppers” who look to buy the cheapest petrol available. Vic Corporation’s strategy is to focus on the 60% of service-oriented customers. Vic Corporation’s balanced scorecard for 2018 follows. For brevity, the initiatives taken under each objective are omitted.

Required:

1. Was Vic Corporation successful in implementing its strategy in 2018? Explain your answer.
2. Would you have included some measure of employee satisfaction and employee training in the learning-and growth perspective? Are these objectives critical to Vic Corporation for implementing its strategy? Why or why not? Explain briefly.
3. Explain how Vic Corporation did not achieve its target market share in the total gasoline market but still exceeded its financial targets. Is “market share of overall gasoline market” the correct measure of market share? Explain briefly.
4. Do you agree with Vic Corporation’s decision not to include measures of changes in operating income from productivity improvements under the financial perspective of the balanced scorecard? Explain briefly.

2. You are designing a puzzle video game that requires fast reaction skills. Note that games such as this can be used in medical settings as methods of psychological and mental assessment, and do not only have uses for entertainment.

You are creating a game where players are supposed to do a simple task, but the simple task changes when the background colour of the game changes, which happens unpredictably. There are four possible background colours, where players are told that each one is associated with a specific described task for them to complete. One round of the game consists of each background colour appearing once in a random order (for example, red, green, blue, yellow). The length of time that a background colour lasts before it changes has an Exponential distribution with parameter λ, but you have not decided on the value of λ yet. If Ti is the length of time that the ith background colour lasts, then Ti ∼ Exp(λ).

(a) Recall that one ‘round’ of the game consists of all four background colours appearing once each. First, define a new random variable for the length of time that a round lasts, and express it in terms of the Ti random variables. Second, state the distribution of the new random variable in terms of λ. Third, suggest a value for λ such that the expected length of time for a single round would be 12 seconds.

(b) If this game was being used in a medical setting to assess mental attentiveness or reaction time, then there might be worry that a single round of the game would be a poor assessment of the desired trait in the patient. Collecting more information would be better, and it might also be better to vary the order that the coloured backgrounds appear. You decide that the game will have multiple rounds, and there will be one round for every single possible order that the four colours can appear in (i.e., there will be one ‘red, green, blue, yellow’ round, one ‘green, red, yellow, blue’ round, etc.). In between each round, there will be 2 seconds of black screen time to offer a moment for the patient to gather themselves. Calculate the expected length of a whole game from start to finish, using your suggested λ from Part (a). Do not include any black screen time before the first round or after the last round.

Subject: 51 year Caucasian female                                     

Height: 5'5"                                                                              

Weight: 190 lbs                                                                            

Vitamin D Status: 12 ng/ml                                                    

Waist-to-Hip Ratio: 1.1

Body Fat %: 42% (via DXA)

Conditions Include:

type 2 Diabetic                                                                        

Hyperlipidemia                                                                       

Osteopenia (via DXA Scan)

Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)    

Vitamin D Status: 12 ng/ml                                                    

Hypertension

Sarcopenia

She states that she is essentially leading a sedentary lifestyle, but is motivated to make nutrition and exercise changes to improve health.

Dietary Recall:  Inadequate intake of Calcium, Vitamin D, Viscous-gel forming fiber, Omega-3 FAs.  Excess intake of Total FAT, Saturated FAT, and Trans FAT

Discuss:

1.      Calculate BMI and BMI category she calculates into.

2.      Dietary recall...discuss the recommended intake of nutrients listed above for this subject, and thus what levels of each she either did not meet or exceeded. Then list foods she could add or eliminate to improve dietary intake.

3.      For every condition listed above (Type 2 Diabetic, Hyperlipidemia etc.), discuss how each is diagnosed (test or technique used; cutoff values to determine

diagnosis).

4.      Discuss interrelationships between conditions listed above...how these conditions are linked and exacerbate entire overall health status.

5.      Discuss realistic dietary and exercise changes she could begin to implement in her routine to improve overall health...discuss mechanisms of improvement for

each condition where appropriate.

Vitamin D

1.      Discuss in detail the synthesis and activation of Vitamin D

2.      Discuss Vitamin D status...what is measured and cutoff values for different categories (sufficient, insufficient, deficient)

3.      Discuss food sources and lifestyle changes she could add to improve Vitamin D status.

4.      Discuss recommended Vitamin D intake (from food, supplementation, and sun exposure) for her to achieve sufficient Vitamin D status in a safe manner.

5.      Discuss in detail the mechanisms or potential/proposed mechanisms that Vitamin D could improve each condition listed above.

1. Maximising revenue should be the goal of the company.

   True

   False

2. QUESTION 2Which one of the following statements about business valuation is NOT true?

3. 		Actions by competitors also affect the value of a business.
   		The value of a business changes over time.
   		There is no such thing as the market value for a business.
   		There is a single value for any business.

4. QUESTION 3In finance, the fundamental determinant of an asset's value is the future cash flow it is expected to generate.

5. True

   False

6. 1 points   

   QUESTION 4It is easier to calculate the market value of a private firm, compared to a public firm.

7. True

   False

8. QUESTION 5Young, rapidly growing companies can be more difficult to value compared to mature, stable companies. Why?

9. 		Young companies might only have 2 or 3 years of historical records compared to a mature company with years of records.
   		Many young, rapidly growing companies are not yet profitable and their future is less certain than for mature companies.
   		Due to the amount of money already invested in a young company, cash flows will be negative for the first few years. This makes valuation more difficult.
   		All of the above

10. QUESTION 6An important issue that must be considered when valuing a business is whether a controlling ownership interest or a minority interest is being valued.

11. True

    False

12. QUESTION 7 There is no such thing as ONE value for a business, because...

13. 		the value of a business can be different to different investors.
    		valuing a business is really hard, and no one knows how to do it.
    		accountants and financial managers like to argue.
    		the share market goes up and down all the time.

14. QUESTION 8The value of a business changes over time because...

15. 		changes in general economic conditions, industry conditions, and decisions made by managers all affect value.
    		actions by competitors also affect value.
    		the investment, operating and financing decisions made by managers also affect value.
    		All of the above.

16. QUESTION 9What are the three categories of business valuation?

17. 		Cash flow, growth and capital approach
    		Cost, market and income approach
    		Profit, loss and Excel approach
    		Assets, liabilities and capital approachQUESTION 10'Market Capitalisation' of a company listed on the stock market refers to:

18. 		The market value of the company.
    		The fundamental value of the company.
    		The book value of the company.
    		Nothing, this is not a term we use in finance.

27) The Town of Greenfield issued the following during the year: (1) $600,000 in bonds for the installation of street lights, to be assessed against properties benefited, but secondarily backed by the town; (2) $800,000 in bonds for construction of a public golf course to be self-supported from fees collected from golf course users. How much should be accounted for through debt service funds for payments of principal over the life of the bonds?

A. $0.

B. $600,000.

C. $800,000.

D. $1,400,000.

28) On March 2, 2020, 20-year, 6 percent, general obligation serial bonds were issued at the face amount of $3,000,000. Interest of 6 percent per annum is due semiannually on March 1 and September 1. The first payment of $150,000 for redemption of principal is due on March 1, 2017. Fiscal year-end occurs on December 31. What is the interest expenditure reported in the debt service fund for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020?

A. $90,000.

B. $135,000.

C. $150,000.

D. $180,000

            29) Which of the following may properly be reported as a component of net position in the proprietary fund statement of net position?   

            30) Internal service funds should be used only if:

A. The reporting government funds the activity with general obligation debt.

B. The reporting government provides services primarily to external participants.

C. The reporting government provides services primarily to other departments of the same

      government.

D. The reporting government provides services below full cost.

            31) The comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR) of a government should contain a statement of revenues, expenses, and changes in fund net position for:

A. Both proprietary and governmental funds.

B. Proprietary but not governmental funds.

C. Governmental but not proprietary funds.

D. Proprietary and fiduciary funds.

            32) Under GASB standards, an internal service fund should prepare all of the following financial statements except a:

Consider one of the three conflict scenarios. For the selected conflict scenario, you and your team must:

1. Identify the source of the conflict
2. Identify 2 -3 conflict resolution strategies
3. Discuss each strategy and select the best
4. Share your resolution strategy with the class.

Scenario 1. As the project manager of a software development project, you included your team in the development of the project schedule. Tim – one of your programmers is scheduled to complete the coding of a program module in 3 days. Tim has just informed you that he will be at least 7 days late. You have informed Tim that the delay is unacceptable. It will severely handicap your ability to deliver the solution to the customer by the contractually required deadline. Tim explains he is firmly committed to your project, as well as three others and he must meet their commitments as well. Tim is sympathetic to your needs, but he won’t budge.

Scenario 2. It is time for your weekly project meeting. You can’t help but notice that Jasmine always sits as far away from Luis as possible. Every time Luis speaks, Jasmine seems to roll her eyes and grimace. Luis seems quite unaware of Jasmine’s contempt. In fact, Luis seems quite unaware of Jasmine. Luis likes to discuss the outstanding contributions he makes to the project week after week. The fact is that Luis is a very valuable contributor. So is Jasmine. Lately, it seems that Jasmine is reaching the boiling point.  

Scenario 3. As the project manager of a building construction project you must implement some important change orders to your contract. The change orders were requested by the customer and the customer is willing to pay the additional expense. However, the changes are also time critical and any delay will result in making a substantial number of contracted laborers idle pending approval to implement the changes. Your contracting officer wants to help, but she informs you that there are strict procedures that must be followed in order to implement a contract change. She asks you to obtain several signed documents from the customer.   She is also initiating a legal review. You know that other contracting officers have achieved these types of changes expediently in the past.

Katharine Rally is the vice president of operations for the ZUSH Company. She oversees

operations at a plant that manufactures components for hydraulic systems. Katharine is

concerned about the plant’s present production capability. She has reduced the decision

situation to three alternatives. The first alternative, which is fully automation, would

result in significant changes in present operations. The second alternative, which is semi-

automation, involves fewer changes in present operations. The third alternative is to make

no changes (do nothing).

As a manager of the plant management team, you have been assigned the task of

analyzing the alternatives and recommending a course of action.

a. Based on the past data, Katharine is further convinced that the capital investment,

annual revenue, useful lives, and salvage values can be considered random variables

with the following specified probability distributions. She also asks you to develop a

simulation of 50 sample points of AW values at a MARR 0f 20%/year. Interpret your

results and indicate which alternative should be selected.

Hint: Use the Random Number Generation (RNG) Data Analysis Tool package of

Microsoft Excel. The online help function explains how to initiate and use the RNG

to generate random numbers from a variety of probability distributions: normal,

uniform (continuous variable), binomial, Poisson, and discrete.

b. How do you trust the result of your simulation study? Increase the sample points to

100, 500, 1000, and 5000 and conclude that one the alternatives would be better than

the other one.

c. Statically show that one of the alternatives is more appropriate than the other one.

Hint: Apply hypothesis testing method to one of the sample point data, say the 100

sample point, data.

Alternative

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Parameter

A

B

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Capital

Normal

Normal

Investment

Mean: $300,000

Mean: $85,000

Std. dev.: $50,000

Std. dev.: $500

Annual

Normal

Normal

Revenue

Mean: $150,000

Mean: $85,000

Std. dev.: $10,000

Std. dev.: $500

Useful live

Discrete uniform

Discrete uniform

3 to 8 years with

3 to 7 years with

equal probability

equal probability

Salvage Value

Uniform

Uniform

30,000 to $60,000

$10,000 to $20000