ACC 573 NERD Become Exceptional--acc573nerd.com
- 1. ACC 573 Final Exam Guide FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com 1. To calculate a company's average tax rate an analyst would 2. The accumulated benefit obligation measures 3. The major difference between accounting for pensions and the accounting for other postretirement benefits is that firms 4. Which of the following is not part of the balance sheet approach when computing income tax expense? 5. The assessment of earnings quality is best accomplished through the use of which one of the following? 6. Firm's choices and estimates within U.S. GAAP should be determined by 7. The date on which a firm commits itself to a formal plan to dispose of a segment is the 8. Which of the following statements does not apply to preventing “garbage in, garbage out” when implementing a forecasting game plan 9. Nichols and Wahlen's 2004 study showed that superior forecasting provides the potential to earn superior security returns. Nichols and Wahlen's findings indicate
- 2. 10. Common-size financial statements recast each statement item as 11. Financial statement forecasts rely on additivity within financial statements and articulation across financial statements. Given this information sales growth forecasts will most likely affect growth in 12. Equity-based valuation models are based on all metrics except 13. If a firm has a market beta of 0.9, is subject to an income tax rate of 35 percent, has a risk-free rate of 6 percent, a market risk premium of 7 percent, and has a market value of debt to market value of equity ratio of 60 percent, what does the market expect the firm to generate in terms of equity returns using CAPM? 14. Equity valuation models based on dividends, cash flows, and earnings have been the topic of many theoretical and empirical research studies in recent years. All of the following are true regarding these studies except: 15. A disadvantage of the free cash flow valuation method i 16. 17. Operating assets include all of the following except 18. The conceptual framework for free cash flows separates the balance sheet equation into the following categories:
- 3. 19. If an analyst wants to value a potential investment in the net operating assets of a division of another firm, the analyst should discount the projected free cash flows at the 20. Residual income in a long-run steady-state growth period is referred to as: 21. The two most popular discounted earnings models appear to be 22. Residual income is 23. The market price of a share of common equity reflects 24. Strictly speaking, the price-earnings ratio assumes that firm value is the 25. Valuation using market multiples captures 26. Under the value-to-book model new projects will be abnormally profitable only when ============================================== ============================================== ACC 573 Week 1 DQ 1 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com
- 4. Based on your review of the SEC reporting requirements as outlined in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, assess the adequacy of the reporting requirements for providing credible financial and operating information for company stakeholders and potential investors, indicating any gaps identified in the reporting. Provide support for your rationale. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 1 DQ 2 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com Assess how the GAAP and IFRS convergence project has impacted SEC reporting requirements, predicting the long-term impact of the convergence on reporting. Provide a rationale for your prediction. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 2 DQ 1
- 5. FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com As a CFO of a publically traded company, suggest how you would create an ethical environment to ensure account balances are correctly valued and reported so that information is reliable for users. Provide support for your rationale. Assess the ethical requirements as outlined in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, indicating whether or not you believe the requirements are adequate to ensure integrity in financial accounting and reporting activities. Suggest improvements that may be needed while providing support for your rationale. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 2 DQ 2 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com In today’s business environment where publicly traded companies feel pressure to meet short-term earnings expectations, management may be tempted to “manage earnings”. Assess how a financial statement
- 6. user may be able to detect managed earnings when reviewing the firm’s balance sheet, income statement, and cash-flow statement. Indicate how a potential investor might interpret these “red-flags”. Provide support for your rationale. Assess how the Sarbanes-Oxley Act addresses the concern of corporate “managed earnings”, indicating whether or not you believe the requirements within the Act are sufficient to minimize these concerns. Provide support for your rationale. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 3 Assignment 1 Financial Statement Restatement and Ethics FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com Write a two to three (2-3) page paper in which you: Assess the factors that contributed to the financial statement restatement, signifying the executive management team’s attitude toward the restatement. Suggest how the restatement may have been avoided during the initial reporting process.
- 7. Explain the impact to the company’s stock price when the restatement was released and to future earnings forecast, indicating whether or not you believe the impact to the stock price was justified. Evaluate the restatement in terms of management’s ethical violations according to the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, providing recommendations to management on how to avoid these problems in the future. Provide support for your recommendations. Use at least two (2) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality as academic resources. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 3 DQ 1 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com As part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, corporate officers are no longer able to “pass the buck” of responsibility for ensuring adequate controls over financial statements and reporting activities thus ensuring the accuracy of financial statements. Assess the adequacy of the provisions contained within the Act, indicating whether or not you believe
- 8. requirements will improve the accuracy of financial statements and reporting. Provide support for your rationale. Given the requirements contained in the Act for CEO and CFOs to certify the adequacy of controls and financial statement accuracy, evaluate your comfort level with this requirement should you become a CFO of a publically traded company. Provide support for your rationale. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 4 DQ 1 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com Based on your review of the current requirements of the SEC and FASB, assess the adequacy of the guidelines for ensuring the transparency of off-balance-sheet transactions to investors, indicating where improvements may still be needed. Provide support for your rationale. As a CFO of a publically traded company, evaluate the pros and cons of using off-balance-sheet financing, including a recommendation as to
- 9. whether or not you support using these types of arrangements. Provide support for your recommendation. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 4 DQ 2 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com Based on the information found in the e-Activity, assess the key differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS reporting for the testing of asset impairment and the requirement to write down the asset value. Indicate whether or not you support the U.S. GAAP or IFRS approach. Provide support for your position. As an investor, recommend a strategy for evaluating long-lived asset values contained on the balance sheet of a publically traded company so as to minimize the risk to the investor. Provide support for your strategy. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 5 DQ 1
- 10. FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com Create an argument for the use of Fair Market Accounting as opposed to historical cost. Provide support for your argument. Evaluate the effectiveness of the accounting principle guidelines for determining the market value of an asset, indicating improvements to these guidelines. Provide support for your recommendations. Create an argument for the use of Fair Market Accounting as opposed to historical cost. Provide support for your argument. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 5 DQ 2 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com Assess the risks associated with derivatives instruments, indicating how these risks may be minimized for a publically traded company. Provide support for your rationale.
- 11. As an investor, assess the potential financial concerns to be raised when reviewing the financial statements of a publically traded company containing derivative instruments providing a recommendation for how the concerns may be identified and addressed. we have to get ACC 573 DQs tomorrow and ACC 575 all quizzes+ one assignment ============================================== ACC 573 Week 6 DQ 1 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com The Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act was created with the intent of improving the quality of accounting, reliability of financial statements to investors, and providing oversight to accounting professionals through the creation of a new federal agency, Public Accounting Company Oversight Board (PACOB). Create an argument supporting whether SOX achieved these goals, and whether financial data reported today is more accurate and reliable than prior to the Act. Provide support for your rationale.
- 12. Assess the impact to the Public Accounting Profession with the creation of the PACOB and the inability of the profession to be self-regulated. Indicate your level of support for the federal regulation of the profession. Provide a rationale for your response. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 6 DQ 2 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com Assess the impact to public trust when a publically traded company restates its financial data, indicating how negative impressions may be minimized. Provide support for your rationale. Evaluate the current trend of companies restating financial statements. Indicate the key drivers of this trend. Predict the trend over the next five years, providing support for your rationale. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 7 Assignment 2 Accounting Quality
- 13. FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com Write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you: Assess the roles of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of a public company for establishing an ethical environment that generates quality accounting and reliable financial reporting for use by shareholders and investors. Provide support for your assessment. Recommend a strategy for a CEO to implement, leading to an ethical environment that leads to high-quality accounting, reporting, and forecasting. Provide support for your recommendation. Suggest how corporate management can provide assurances to investors that the performance forecast and expected earnings will be realized, minimizing the volatility of the stock price. Provide support for your suggestions. Evaluate the consequences to a publically traded company when there is a lack of quality within financial accounting and reporting, indicating how these consequences may be minimized. Provide support for your answer. Assess the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act related to accounting quality, indicating whether or not you believe the requirements are sufficient to protect stockholders and potential investors. Provide support for your position.
- 14. Use at least five (5) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality as academic resources. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 7 DQ 1 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com Assess the financial performance forecasting process, identifying the assumptions made that are most likely to cause a gap between the forecast and actual performance. Indicate how these gaps may be minimized. Provide support for your rationale. Create an argument supporting the value of forecasting to an organization. Provide support for your argument ============================================== ACC 573 Week 7 DQ 2 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
- 15. www.acc573nerd.com Assess the market and shareholder behaviors when a publically traded company makes the decision not to pay dividends to its shareholders, suggesting how management should react to these behaviors. Provide support for your rationale. Evaluate the factors that an investor may consider when deciding whether or not to invest in a company with a policy of non-dividend payments. Indicate whether or not you believe this a prudent choice for some investors. Provide support for your rationale. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 8 DQ 1 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com Create an argument that use of the present value free cash-flow method has a more beneficial economic meaning than earnings-based methods. Provide support for your argument.
- 16. Assess the challenges related to using the present value of the free cash-flow valuation method in practice, suggesting how each of these challenges may be overcome. Provide support for your rationale. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 8 DQ 2 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com Assess how the free cash-flow method can be used when a company is profitable yet the cash-flow values are expected to be negative over the next five years, indicating the likely impact on the valuation. Provide support for your rationale. Assess which cash-flow variables are the most sensitive to change and the likely impact on a firm’s valuation. Provide support for your answer. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 9 DQ 1 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT
- 17. www.acc573nerd.com Create an argument supporting that using the earnings-based valuation method yields the most accurate results. Provide support for your argument. Assess the challenges related to using the earnings-based valuation method in practice, suggesting how each of these challenges may be overcome. Provide support for your rationale ============================================== ACC 573 Week 9 DQ 2 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com Evaluate the likely impact on a firm’s valuation when using U.S. GAAP versus IFRS accounting methods, indicating which accounting standards you believe may yield a more favorable result. Provide support for your position.
- 18. Determine how a firm’s valuation using the earnings-based valuation method would be impacted when using aggressive versus conservative accounting. Provide evidence supporting your conclusion. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 10 Assignment 3 Company Valuation (Facebook IPO) FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com Write a five to six (5-6) page paper in which you: Evaluate the valuation and method used to determine the Initial Public Offering value of Facebook stock, indicating any miscalculations in the valuation that may have mislead potential investors and how these errors may have been minimized. Provide support for your response. Assess the performance of the stock within the first year of the public offering, indicating the drivers of the performance and the resulting impact to the company performance. Suggest an alternative method of valuation for the company valuation indicated and how it may have yielded a different value and the potential resulting impact to investor decision. Provide support for your rationale.
- 19. Assess the role of the Chief Executive Officer in relationship to the stock performance, suggesting what the person in that role may have done differently to positively influence the performance of the stock and value to investors. Provide support for your suggestions. Evaluate the risk / reward position to an investor when purchasing stock during an initial public offering, indicating under what circumstances you would advise an investor to do so. Predict the stock price of Facebook over the next five years, indicating the key drivers of the performance and the resulting impact to the stock price. Provide support for your prediction. Use at least five (5) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not quality as academic resources. ============================================== ACC 573 Week 10 DQ 1 FOR MORE CLASSES VISIT www.acc573nerd.com • Create an argument supporting that using the market-based valuation method yields the most accurate results. Provide support for your argument.
- 20. • Assess the challenges related to using the market-based valuation method in practice, suggesting how each of these challenges may be overcome. Provide support for your rationale. ==============================================