Concept explainers
(a)
Financial Aid: It refers to a grant provided by state, federal government school, colleges, foundations, and corporations in the form of scholarship, loan or paid employment for helping the students in meeting their studying fees.
Earnings Management: It refers to the practice of adopting certain accounting strategies and techniques which would make a company’s financial position look better and positive to its users of the financial information.
To discuss: whether each of the given actions to increase the chances of receiving financial aid is ethical.
(b)
To explain: the reasons for a company to want to overstate its earnings.
(c)
To explain: the reasons for a company to want to understate its earnings.
(d)
To state: the circumstances under which an otherwise ethical person might decide to illegally overstate or understate earnings.
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 1 Solutions
FINAN 9E WPLMSCC+REEFCARD
- Consider the dilemma you might someday face if you are the chief financial officer of a company that is struggling to maintain a positive cash flow, despite the fact that the company is reporting a substantial positive net income. Maybe the problem is so severe that there is often insufficient cash to pay ordinary business expenses, like utilities, salaries, and payments to suppliers. Assume that you have been asked to communicate to your board of directors about your companys year, in retrospect, as well as your vision for the companys future. Write a memo that expresses your insights about past experience and present prospects for the company. Note that the challenge of the assignment is to keep your integrity intact, while putting a positive spin on the situation, as much as is reasonably possible. How can you envision the situation turning into a success story?arrow_forwardAssume that you are the controller of a business that provides legal services to clients. Suppose that the company has had a tough year, so the revenues have been lagging behind, based on previous years standards. What would you do if your boss (the chief executive officer [CEO] of the company) asked to reclassify a transaction to report loan proceeds of $150,000 as if the cash came from service fee revenue from clients instead. Would following the CEOs advice impact the companys accounting equation? How would reclassifying this one transaction change the outcome of the balance sheet, the income statement, and the statement of retained earnings? Would making this reclassification change the perception that users of the financial statements would have of the companys current year success and future year potential? Write a memo, detailing your willingness (or not) to embrace this suggestion, giving reasons behind your decision. Remember to exercise diplomacy, even if you must dissent from the opinion of a supervisor. Note that the challenge of the assignment is to keep your integrity intact, while also keeping your job, if possible.arrow_forwardConsider the dilemma you might someday face if you are the CFO of a company that is struggling to satisfy investors, creditors, stockholders, and internal company managers. All of these financial statement users are clamoring for higher profits and more net assets (also known as equity). If at some point, you suddenly found yourself not meeting the internal and external earnings and equity targets that these parties expect, you would probably search for some way to make the financial statements look better. What if your boss, the CEO, suggested that maybe you should make just one simple journal entry to record all the goods that your company is holding on consignment, as if that significant amount of goods were owned by your company? She might say that this action on your part would fix a lot of problems at once, since adding the consigned goods to merchandise inventory would simultaneously increase net assets on the balance sheet and increase net income on the income statement (since it would decrease cost of goods sold). How would you respond to this request? Write a memo, detailing your willingness or not to embrace this suggestion, giving reasons behind your decision. Remember to exercise diplomacy, even if you must dissent from the opinion of a supervisor. Note that the challenge of the assignment is to keep your integrity intact while also keeping your job, if possible.arrow_forward
- Indicate whether each of the following statements is true or false. Section 302 of Sarbanes-Oxley requires the CEO and CFO to review all financial reports and sign the reports. One of the three questions put forth by the Institute of Business Ethics is Do I mind others knowing what I have done? Ethical issues may be faced on a small scale, such as making a business decision to produce excess inventory for the sole purpose of trying to influence managers bonuses. A manager who spends excess budgeted funds remaining at the end of a fiscal year on unnecessary expenditures thinking that it is better to use it than lose it is acting ethically. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was implemented in 2001 to protect investors by enhancing the accuracy and reliability of corporate financial statements and disclosures.arrow_forwardReported accounting earnings provide valuable information to investors, lenders and regulators. Reported income is also important for executive bonus. Yet, within the structure of GAAP, managers can use judgment in computing accounting earnings and in structuring transactions. In other words, managers can engage in earnings management. What activities need judgment in preparing the accounting earnings? What safeguards can you suggest for reducing or preventing harmful earnings management intended to mislead investors and the market?arrow_forwardMr. Bader is leaving the accounting practice to become the Finance Director of a client company. The ethical dilemma he is most likely to face would be a. Objectivity b. Integrity c. Professional Behavior d. Confidentialitarrow_forward
- 20)Which of the following is the best definition of an internal user of accounting information? A) Creditors, such as banks, that use accounting information to evaluate the risk of lending money B) Investors who use accounting information to decide whether to buy or sell stock C) Managers who use accounting information to plan, organize, and run a business D) Labor unions who use accounting information to examine the ability of the company to pay increased wages and benefitsarrow_forwardMini-Case Analysis Authorization of transactions is considered a key role in most organizations. Authorizations should not be made by individuals who have incompatible functions: Required: Indicate the individual or function (e.g. the head of a particular department) that should have the ability to authorize each if the following transactions. Briefly indicate the rationale for your answer. Writing off old accounts receivable Paying the employee for overtime Shipping goods on account to a new customer Temporarily investing funds in common stock investments instead of money market funds Rewriting the company’s major computer programs for processing purchase orders and accounts payable (the cost of rewriting the program will represent one quarter of the organization’s computer development budget for the year.arrow_forwardThe SEC is trying to get companies to notify the investment community more quickly when a "material change" will affect their forthcoming financial results. In what sense might a financial manager be seen as "more ethical" if he or she follows this directive and issues a press release indicating that sales will not be as high as previously anticipated? A manager at a "Check Into Cash" business (see Focus on Ethics box on page 192) defends his business practice as simply "charging what the market will bear." "After all," says the manager, "we don't force people to come in the door." How would you respond to this ethical defense of the payday-advance business? Bond rating agencies have invested significant sums of money in an effort to determine which quantitative and nonquantitative factors best predict bond defaults. Furthermore, some of the raters invest time and money to meet privately with corporate personnel to get nonpublic information that is used in assigning the issue's bond…arrow_forward
- Contingent situation is a potential negative event that may occur in the future, such as economic recession, natural disaster, fraudulent activity, or a terrorist attack. Contingencies can be prepared for, but often the nature and scope of such negative events are unknowable in advance. Companies and investors plan for various contingencies through analysis and implementing protective measures. Describe how accountants may help to mitigate the impact of these risks on profitability? (350 words)arrow_forwardYou read that there is no generally accepted definition of ‘earnings management’. Using your accounting knowledge, your own research and textbook reading to define, describe, and analyze: When will earnings management be acceptable? When will earnings management become a fraud? Fraudulent earnings management is often identified by two adjectives. What are the two adjectives? How should each of the two adjectives be defined in the context of this week’s lessons on ‘financial reporting fraud’? Include a biblical application in your analysis.arrow_forwardAppointing a person as your agent via a power of attorney can be extremely important and practical for managing one's financial affairs. This is especially true if someone is away for a significant amount of time (such as on a deployment). However, the person who is appointed as the agent can wreck the principal if bad decisions are made. What qualities should you look for when appointing someone as an agent via a power of attorney and/or a durable power of attorney?arrow_forward
- Principles of Accounting Volume 1AccountingISBN:9781947172685Author:OpenStaxPublisher:OpenStax CollegePrinciples of Accounting Volume 2AccountingISBN:9781947172609Author:OpenStaxPublisher:OpenStax CollegeAuditing: A Risk Based-Approach (MindTap Course L...AccountingISBN:9781337619455Author:Karla M Johnstone, Audrey A. Gramling, Larry E. RittenbergPublisher:Cengage Learning
- Business/Professional Ethics Directors/Executives...AccountingISBN:9781337485913Author:BROOKSPublisher:Cengage