Business Commons^™

Apple’S Cost-Sharing Arrangement: Frankenstein’S Monster, David G. Chamberlain, Stephen L. Curtis

Accounting

In this two-part report, Curtis and Chamberlain break down Apple’s cost-sharing arrangement and explain how corporate taxpayers have been able to exploit the cost-sharing regulations to shift hundreds of billions or even trillions in U.S. profits offshore with little or no IRS detection or enforcement.

Apple, State Aid, And Arm’S Length: Eu General Court’S Failure Of Imagination, David G. Chamberlain

Accounting

In this article, Chamberlain analyzes the EU General Court ruling in Apple, and examines state aid and transfer pricing in the EU, with a focus on (and as an advocate for) the existence of an autonomous arm’s-length principle.

How The Tax Court Can Account For Risk In Medtronic Transfer Pricing, David G. Chamberlain

Accounting

In this report, Chamberlain explores how the Tax Court, on remand in Medtronic, can address the challenge of determining arm’s-length transfer prices when one of the related parties bears substantial risk but owns no valuable intangible property.

Disappearing Forks And Magical Airdrops, David G. Chamberlain, Rodney P. Mock, Kathryn Kisska-Schulze

Accounting

In this article, the authors argue that the IRS misguides taxpayers because it confuses cryptocurrency hard forks and airdrops in newly issued Rev. Rul. 2019-24.

Section 199a: Job Creator Or Tax Giveaway?, Rodney P. Mock, David G. Chamberlain

Accounting

In this report, Mock and Chamberlain discuss section 199A and its inconsistencies regarding job creation policy.

Feasibility Analysis Of A Microbrewery, Dylan Warren Snyder

Agribusiness

No abstract provided.

Cal Poly Organic Farm Business Plan, Eric Ryan Mccarthy

Agribusiness

This study was undertaken to determine which strategies would allow the Cal Poly Organic Farm to operate as a profitable business without compromising educational and agricultural objectives. Three strategies were analyzed to determine the most profitable approach. The first strategy, expanding CSA sales, emphasizes marketing efforts to increase products and services awareness. This should increase CSA, CPOF, merchandise, and farmers’ markets sales. The second strategy implements new CSA produce boxes that cater to specific groups. Existing produce boxes will remain available to CSA members. Expanding produce boxes can be done with the produce on hand or expanding crop selection. The …

A Re-Balanced Scorecard: A Strategic Approach To Enhance Managerial Performance In Complex Environments, Joseph H. Callaghan, Arline Savage, Steven Mintz

Accounting

This paper is a proposal to develop conceptual and practical frameworks for evolving corporations seeking to improve their managerial performance in complex environments with actionable strategies for dealing with social, environmental and corporate governance issues. These frameworks are coalesced by social contract theory that extends the traditional view of the firm as a nexus of contracts to a broader view of the firm as a nexus of social contracts. A re-balanced scorecard is proposed to induce and evaluate management performance that captures important dimensions and aspects of the frameworks established for firms strategically choosing to change their long term objectives …

Equational Zero Vector Databases, Non-Equational Databases, And Inherent Internal Control, Roberta Ann Barra, Arline Savage, Jeff J. Tsay

Accounting

Equational zero vector accounting systems, based on duality principles and the double-entry model, were designed as ontological control systems to help prevent and detect fraud and errors inherent in non-equational, single-entry systems. Non-equational systems lend themselves to fraud and errors to a larger degree because the internal control inherent in an equational zero vector system has no substitute. We use an analytical analysis methodology to show that an equational zero vector system provides superior inherent internal control over data completeness and data reliability. In the accounting information systems area, the most popular modern non-equational system, the resource-event-agent model, is increasingly …

Ethical Concerns About The Online Sale Of Instructor-Only Textbook Resources, Arline Savage, Mark G. Simkin

Accounting

Yes, your test bank and solutions manual are for sale and it is very easy for your students to acquire them. Using a stakeholder framework, we analyze the ethical issues involved in acquiring, using, and distributing these instructional resources by individuals besides the professors for whom they are intended. We also discuss countermeasures that stakeholders might use to deal with this latest development.

Formation Of Cull Cow Program For The Artificial Insemination Class, Brian O. Medeiros

Dairy Science

Cal Poly’s “Learn by Doing” philosophy is one of the great traits that the University holds. However it is this philosophy that is also one of the most expensive and hardest to maintain. “Production agriculture majors use more dollars per unit than any other major in the entire college,” as Dr. Golden stated during his talks about herd cut backs. Never the less the College of Agriculture prides itself on supplying knowledgeable and experienced students to the industry that supports it so much. One of the amazing classes that are offered at the university is the Dairy Science Artificial Insemination …

Turning A Small Residential Farm Into A Non-Profit Educational Organization, Thomas John Anderson

Agribusiness

This study was undertaken to determine whether Felicity’s Farm could become a non-profit organization for education. In order to determine the feasibility of turning Felicity’s Farm into a non-profit organization, interviews were conducted and financial statements were collected. In addition, a Certificate of Incorporation was completed based on the interview and financial data. It was concluded that Felicity’s Farm could become a non-profit organization; however, better organization of finances, fund-raising and the use of volunteers was recommended.

Financial Management To Support Sustainability, Doug Cerf, Arline Savage

Accounting

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Of Real Estate Investment Decision-Making Practices, Edward J. Farragher, Arline Savage

Accounting

This survey investigation reports on the investment decision-making processes used by equity investors in real estate. The survey covers the entire investment decision-making process, from setting strategy to auditing operating performance. Respondents identify the most important stages of the process as searching for investment opportunities, forecasting expected returns, and evaluating forecasted returns. Most believe that individual project factors are more important than strategic and portfolio factors, and that returns should be measured on a before-tax cash flow basis and evaluated using discounted cash flow measures. Respondents are more concerned with project than portfolio risk and are unlikely to make a …

Making The Case For Sustainable Business Practices: An Introduction, Kathryn Lancaster

Accounting

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Control Environment Using A Balanced Scorecard Approach, Joseph H. Callaghan, Arline Savage, Steven Mintz

Accounting

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Accounting And Financial Management, Doug Cerf, Arline Savage, Kathryn Lancaster

Accounting

No abstract provided.

A Movie Project Brings The Coso Internal Control Framework To Life, Arline Savage, Kathryn Lancaster

Accounting

No abstract provided.

Creating Effective Teams In A Classroom Environment, Kathryn A.S. Lancaster, Cyndi A. Crother

Accounting

For over a decade, companies have been concerned that new graduates are often not prepared to work in jobs where there they are required to contribute as a member of a team. In response, many educators have adopted team-based learning pedagogies, often referred to as cooperative learning. The use of teams has created additional class management issues and added to the complexity of class dynamics. While most students find team activities helpful, the authors have experienced a variety of problems encountered by various teams. For example, some class teams never function as a team, and the members end up working …

Think Before For A Better After, Kathryn A.S. Lancaster

Accounting

Think before you drive. Think before you trash it. Think before for a better after. These were all slogans used in a campaign on the California Polytechnic State University campus in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Two students worked with their college union and other areas of campus to promote recycling and energy and water conservation. The central goal of this campaign was to influence students to think about their actions and change their behaviors to be more eco-friendly. The recycling opportunities at Cal Poly are plentiful. Students, staff, and faculty members each have two containers in their dorm room or …

Rethinking Ais: An Innovative Financial Information Systems Curriculum, Joseph Callaghan, Arline Savage, Eileen Peacock

Accounting

This paper describes a new Financial Information Systems curriculum that integrates information technology and financial information in the development of business information systems, and discusses the problems we experienced in establishing the new program. Our intention is to provide accounting graduates with the knowledge they need to leverage the latest information technologies to support the use of financial information in management decision-making, and to integrate financial information and internal controls into business information systems. Our cross-disciplinary approach expands the horizons of our students, from one of viewing accounting as a stand-alone, untimely, inflexible information system, capturing only “accounting transactions” and …

Financial Analysts And Enron: Asleep At The Wheel?, Arline Savage, Cynthia Miree

Accounting

We attempt to replicate the duties of financial analysts by performing accounting and financial analyses for Enron, using information contained in the firm's Security and Exchange Commission filings and in annual and quarterly reports that were available to analysts prior to the firm's collapse. We focus on Enron accounting policies, estimates, and financial measures that reflect the key risk areas that we identified in our strategy analysis.

Given that the purpose of accounting analysis is to evaluate the degree to which a firm's accounting system captures its underlying economic reality, we attempt to assess the degree of distortion in Enron's …

Making Better Use Of Information: Aiming Towards "True North", Kathryn Lancaster, William J. Bellows

Accounting

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of The Usefulness Of Web-Based Financial And Environmental Performance Information Provided By Oil And Gas Companies, Kathryn A.S. Lancaster, Carolyn A. Strand, Janice Carr

Accounting

Environmentally conscious investors require financial information in addition to environmental information to evaluate a company's performance. Sources of such information include organizations that specialize in providing environmental performance data, such as the Council on Economic Priorities (CEP) or the Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC). Both of these organizations research, evaluate, and rank companies based on a variety of metrics, and both charge for their service. Through company websites, the Internet offers another potential source of information, since most companies have a "web presence." However, information supplied on a company website has the risk of bias (i.e. the website may be …

Augmenting Xbrl Using Uml: Improving Financial Analysis, Joseph H. Callaghan, Arline Savage, Vijayan Sugumaran

Accounting

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), a financial accounting application of XML, provides a taxonomy for facilitating the analysis of financial statement information. This taxonomy promises to enhance the financial analyst’s ability to process financial information both cross-sectionally and temporally. However, limitations exist in the taxonomy that inhibit the analyst, intelligent agent or application to process information in the most effective way. In particular, financial statement element analysis can only be properly conducted when the additional semantics provided by additional disclosures are incorporated into the process. UML provides a conceptual framework to capture more meaningful semantics, particularly among related, collaborating objects. …

Stewardship, Accounting And Management, Kathryn Lancaster

Accounting

Previous chapters have described the vast array of resources that Cal Poly’s officials oversee. As students, educators and others in the surrounding community continue to use Cal Poly Land and surrounding areas, the ecological system and its capacity to recover become strained. In order to ensure that in 100 years students (and other Cal Poly stakeholders) will be able to have the same opportunities to benefit from the land resources, Cal Poly’s stakeholders need to develop the mind-set and tools to help us maintain and enhance these resources. This section describes several approaches available to help us.

Modeling Xbrl Using Uml: Improving Semantics For Financial Analysis, Vijayan Sugumaran, Joseph Callaghan, Arline Savage

Accounting

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), a financial accounting application of XML, provides a taxonomy for facilitating the analysis of financial statement information. This taxonomy promises to enhance the financial analyst‘s ability to process financial information both cross-sectionally and temporally. However, limitations exist in the taxonomy that inhibit the analyst, intelligent agent or application to process information in the most effective way. In particular, financial statement element analysis can only be properly conducted when the additional semantics provided by additional disclosures are incorporated into the process. UML provides a conceptual framework to capture more meaningful semantics, particularly among related, collaborating objects. …

Evidence On The Effectiveness Of Using Tax Credits To Promote Energy Conservation, Kathryn A.S. Lancaster, Michael R. Kinney, Jack Robison

Accounting

The country seems to have quickly embarked on a new energy crisis. "From Manhattan to Montana, worries are mounting that skyrocketing power prices and rolling blackouts will soon spread from their epicenter in California.... Concern about the power picture extends to the top levels of the Bush Administration as it attempts to hammer out a new energy policy." As politicians search for possible solutions to the current crisis, incentives for energy conservation are often mentioned as a possible remedy. A recent Congressional Research Service Issue Brief describes several potential bills. Two create a refundable tax credit for up to 50% …

Process Mapping And Scripting In The Accounting Information Systems (Ais) Curriculum, Roberta Ann Jones, Kathryn A.S. Lancaster

Accounting

The ability to understand, document, and suggest improvements for a business process is an important skill for an accounting student for the following reasons: (1) efficient business processes give businesses a competitive advantage; (2) business process analysis provides auditors with an assessment of business risk; and (3) successful enterprise resource planning implementation depends on understanding and improving existing business processes. It is suggested that students be introduced to process mapping and scripting in an accounting information systems (AIS) course to facilitate their understanding of business processes and help them visualize the interaction between functional areas. The specifics of process mapping …

Stewardship And The Balanced Scorecard, Kathryn Lancaster

Accounting

No abstract provided.