At the end of December 2013, Crocs Inc. announced that Blackstone Group is investing $200 million into the footwear company in the form of a preferred stock purchase. Crocs plans to use the $200 million plus another $150 million of cash it already has on hand to repurchase its own common shares during the first […]
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Tag Archives: teaching accounting
How is the term “depreciation” used in a news story about the resale value of electric cars?
January 27, 2014 
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A recent news story in USA Today was entitled “Depreciation hits electric cars hard.” According to USA Today, a Ford Focus Electric automobile will be worth about 20% of its initial $35,995 list price after five years, while a conventional Ford Focus (gas-engine) will be worth about 36% of its initial value. The 2013 Nissan […]
Continue readingShould the original cost of the leftover 10 million pounds of Mighty Wings matter to McDonald’s decision makers?
January 20, 2014 0 Comments
In the first half of 2013, McDonald’s bought and stockpiled about 50 million frozen chicken wings for a promotion it was planning for fall 2013. In the fall 2013, McDonald’s debuted Mighty Wings, a menu item that would be available only through the end of November 2013. When Mighty Wings came out, McDonald’s did not […]
Continue readingWhat information can be gathered from Barnes & Noble’s statement of cash flows?
January 10, 2014 0 Comments
Barnes & Noble is a retailer of content, digital media, and educational products. It has nearly 700 bookstores in 50 states and also has a large e-commerce presence on the Web. In the past few years, there has been speculation that Barnes & Noble will not survive in the long-term. Among other news stories, the […]
Continue readingHow much does Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida pay to redeem one share of its preferred stock?
January 6, 2014 0 Comments
The following is from a press release from Seacoast Banking Corporation of Florida, the holding company for Seacoast National Bank, dated November 29, 2013: “…Seacoast National Bank…announced it has issued a notice to redeem, subject to regulatory approval, all of its 2,000 shares of Fixed Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series A… for an aggregate […]
Continue readingHow does a stock buyback impact AutoZone’s balance sheet?
January 2, 2014 0 Comments
In December 2013, the Board of Directors of AutoZone Inc., an auto parts retailer, approved an increase of $750 million in its stock buyback program. Since 1998, AutoZone’s board of directors has approved $14.2 billion in buybacks. Questions On the date of the announcement that AutoZone has authorized the increase in its share buyback program, […]
Continue readingShould the town of Allentown, PA, outsource its pension check-writing?
December 30, 2013 0 Comments
For years, the City of Allentown, PA, has had its payroll clerk write the pension checks to its retirees every two weeks. The pension check-writing system is based in an older accounting system that was installed in 1983. The only person who has been trained to use the older accounting system to write the pension […]
Continue readingHow does Starbucks account for gift card sales?
December 23, 2013 0 Comments
In December 2013, Starbucks was predicting it would have record gift card sales for the year. Last year (2012), Starbucks sold more than 2 million gift cards on the Thursday before Christmas, which was a rate of more than 1,500 gift cards per minute. In 2013, Starbucks expects to top that figure. For the entire […]
Continue readingHow should Amazon Web Services price its services to Zappos?
December 19, 2013 1 Comment
Amazon.com has some of the biggest data centers in the world, where it runs cloud-based hosting services. Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), is the division of Amazon.com that provides compute, storage, and database services to a wide variety of companies, including GE, Netflix, Pfizer, Pinterest, and others. Amazon’s divisions also use its cloud-based hosting services. […]
Continue readingWhen does Ford Credit recognize bad debt expense associated with a new car loan?
December 17, 2013 0 Comments
Every individual has a credit score, which is an approximate measure of the risk of loan default to potential lenders. Credit scores range from about 300 – 850, with 850 being the best credit score possible. This credit score is a combination of several categories of history about the individual, including length of credit history, […]
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