2014 STUDENT C ASE C OMPETITION
The Student Case Competition is sponsored annually by IMA® to provide an opportunity for students to interpret, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate a solution to a management accounting problem.
Starfire’s Dilemma
Capacity at What Cost?
By Thomas L. Albright, CPA; Paul E. Juras, CMA, CPA; and Russ Elrod
F
ounded in 1968 by Alan James, Starfire Trucking Company has grown into a sizeable operation with 90 trucks and 180 trailers. Recently,
FHP Technologies, Starfire’s largest customer, submitted a proposal to James to add delivery routes that would improve the efficiency of FHP’s supply chain. With Starfire already operating at (or near) full capacity, James is uncertain that
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Was it possible to squeeze out more capacity from an already fully utilized fleet? Perhaps Starfire could shift trucks from another account. Was taking on more debt truly risky given the profit potential of this new route? Simmons knew he had to make a convincing argument before FHP took the offer to another truck line.
Industry Background and
Cost Structure
Table 1 presents the 2012 income from operations of
Starfire Trucking Company. To better understand the line items and company cost structure, it would be helpful to begin with a general description of the trucking industry and its common practices. (Also see “Industry Terms” for brief definitions of common terms.)
Revenue Sources
Trucking firms generate a variety of revenue types from hauling goods for their clients. The primary source is typically line-haul revenue, which is the revenue earned from hauling freight. Another source is fuel surcharge (FSC) revenue. Trucking companies are exposed to fuel price volatility when they sign a long-term contract with a customer. With the pointed volatility of fuel prices in recent years, trucking companies include the FSC, which is an additional fee that’s triggered when fuel costs exceed predetermined levels. Thus, the primary purpose of the FSC is to protect the truck line from fuel price increases during the contract term.
A trucking line will likely have other,
4- The committee and Ms Beckel decided to include a religious studies curriculum in the program. The principal approved of it. However, Ms Wright one of the community members did not. She threatened to show up at the committee meeting with the media. On the day of the meeting, Ms Wright showed up with a placard protesting the use of the bible in public schools.
The United States Court of appeals ruled that the suppressed evidence is purely impeaching evidence and no defense request has been made, the suppressed evidence is material only if its introduction probably would have resulted in acquittal. Given a minor role of Phillips' testimony and the limited impact that Phelps statement had on the jury's assessment of Phillips credibility, Maddox could not demonstrate that so the evidence probably would have resulted in an acquittal. Also, the evidence was immaterial under United States V.Blasco; the defendant filed a joint motion to suppress all physical evidence gathered by the officers and any statements made by the defendant. The magistrate found that the defendant did not have to raise a fourth amendment challenge and its suppression did not violate his (Maddox’s) due process right. For ongoing reasons, the district court's dismissal of Maddox's habeas petition was affirmed.
1. Describe bone physiology and the bone remodeling cycle. Be sure to emphasize the two types of bone tissue and the roles of osteoblasts and osteoclasts.
Sparkle Company is a Nigerian diamond mining company. Sparkle is a joint venture, 50 percent owned by Shine and 50 percent owned by Brighten. Both Shine and Brighten are U.S.-based companies with their functional currency being the American dollar. Sparkle Companies functional currency is that of Nigeria, being the Naira. During 2009, Sparkle had several transactions with its joint venture owners and outside parties. The details of Sparkle’s transactions are three loans, three expenditures, and one revenue stream. The loans the company took out were $1 million from Brighten, $1 million from Shine, and 300 million Naira from a local Nigerian bank. The expenditures
The main purpose or mission of the Greenhill Community Center was to provide human service programs for learning, growth, and enrichment throughout life within an intergenerational setting. The mission seems to fill the need in the demographical setting of the location. The center is located in one of the poorest cities on the East Coast. In the textbook it states a mission as being “the reason an organization exists, and it must be the starting point for its planning.” (Worth, p.172) The mission of the center is very sound, but in the process of hiring a new director, I think the mission focus was lost. I saw a couple of incidences of “mission creep“ in the reading. (Worth, p.173) One being the focus the trustees put on not
ASC 320-10-35-33F: “Changes in the quality of the credit enhancement should be considered when estimating whether a credit loss exists and the period over which the debt security is expected to recover.”
This case is talking about an executive retreat. It was introduced by John Matthews who was a executive had been selected to attend the two-and-a-half-week retreat. The retreat was more like a competition about academic and athletic. The team members should not only get know each other and cooperate with teammates but also need to compete with others. The whole participants were broken into five groups and their aim was to win the competition. There are several sessions about academic and athletic that the participants should complete. After the introduction part the case showed the experience of John. Before the group meeting John was wondering and worried about this retreat. When he was taking the first group meeting, he tried to learn
The court deciphering between criminal negligence and recklessness. Criminal negligence being a person failing to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.
IgG – funtions in neutralizing, opsonation, compliment activation, antibody dependent cell-mediated cytocity, neonatal immunity, and feedback inhibition of B-cells and found in the blood.
As mentioned in the introduction of the mini case, Hobby Horse Company, Inc. (HH) experienced a tough year in 2011. HH opened up a number of new stores but experienced a poor Christmas season. Christmas season is the biggest sale period for retail stores. As a result, bad Christmas sales performance played a big part of HH’s loss for year 2011. As we computed the financial ratios for HH, we can see the effects from new stores openings and poor sales performance.
On a snowy January evening, the Midwestern Medical Group (MMG) management team held a retirement party for Judith Olsen, MMG president. During the evening, Olsen reflected back on the years she had worked for MMG with mixed feelings about her experience. Over the course of their eight-year integration
Shakespeare Inc., a private publishing company issued its F/S on March 20, 2012. There were several accruals and events that the management of Shakespeare is considering to determine if they should be recognized or disclosed in Dec 31, 2011 F/S. In my opinion, the important things to focus on subsequent events are the period they effect and if their influence is material or not, so that in conclusion, the F/S are fairly presented.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology would be best reveal the location and extent of damage to Tim’s brain produced by his
AM Trucking is a trucking company that provides a range of hauling services specializing in rock and production water hauling. The main service provided by this trucking company will be hauling foundation rock for a rock crushing company and delivering it to oilfield production pads and roads. Additional services will include occasionally providing a heavy equipment towing from multiple Oil companies land leases.
Insurance: The law says that the buildings, the personnel need to be insured. The costs are often monthly paid. It could be said that the insurance is not a variable cost on the short run.