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Description
Company X is one of the world's largest manufacturer of semiconductors. The company relies on various suppliers in the U.S. and around the globe for its manufacturing process. The financial health of these suppliers is vital to the continuation of Company X's business without any material interruption. Therefore, it is in Company X's interest to monitor its supplier's financial performance. Company X has a supplier financial health model currently in use. Having been developed prior to watershed events like the Great Recession, the current model may not reflect the significant changes in the economic environment due to these events. Company X wants to know if there is a more accurate model for evaluating supplier health that better indicates business risk. The scope of this project will be limited to a sample of 24 suppliers representative of Company X's supplier base that are public companies. While Company X's suppliers consist of both private and public companies, the used of exclusively public companies ensures that we will have sufficient and appropriate data for the necessary analysis. The goal of this project is to discover if there is a more accurate model for evaluating the financial health of publicly traded suppliers that better indicates business risk. Analyzing this problem will require a comprehensive understanding of various financial health models available and their components. The team will study best practice and academia. This comprehension will allow us to customize a model by incorporating metrics that allows greater accuracy in evaluating supplier financial health in accordance with Company X's values.
ContributorsLi, Tong (Co-author) / Gonzalez, Alexandra (Co-author) / Park, Zoon Beom (Co-author) / Vogelsang, Meridith (Co-author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Hertzel, Mike (Committee member) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Financial statements are one of the most important, if not the most important, documents for investors. These statements are prepared quarterly and yearly by the company accounting department, and are then audited in detail by a large external accounting firm. Investors use these documents to determine the value of the company, and trust that the company was truthful in its statements, and the auditing firm correctly audited the company's financial statements for any mistakes in their books and balances. Mistakes on a company's financial statements can be costly. However, financial fraud on the statements can be outright disastrous. Penalties for accounting fraud can include individual lifetime prison sentences, as well as company fines for billions of dollars. As students in the accounting major, it is our responsibility to ensure that financial statements are accurate and truthful to protect ourselves, other stakeholders, and the companies we work for. This ethics game takes the stories of Enron, WorldCom, and Lehman Brothers and uses them to help students identify financial fraud and how it can be prevented, as well as the consequences behind unethical decisions in financial reporting. The Enron scandal involved CEO Kenneth Lay and his predecessor Jeffery Skilling hiding losses in their financial statements with the help of their auditing firm, Arthur Andersen. Enron collapsed in 2002, and Lay was sentenced to 45 years in prison with his conspirator Skilling sentenced to 24 years in prison. In the WorldCom scandal, CEO Bernard "Bernie" Ebbers booked line costs as capital expenses (overstating WorldCom's assets), and created fraudulent accounts to inflate revenue and WorldCom's profit. Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in prison and lost his title as WorldCom's Chief Executive Officer. Lehman Brothers took advantage of a loophole in accounting procedure Repo 105, that let the firm hide $50 billion in profits. No one at Lehman Brothers was sentenced to jail since the transaction was technically considered legal, but Lehman was the largest investment bank to fail and the only large financial institution that was not bailed out by the U.S. government.
ContributorsPanikkar, Manoj Madhuraj (Author) / Samuelson, Melissa (Thesis director) / Ahmad, Altaf (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The author is an accounting major headed into the public accounting industry. As a tax intern his senior year, he was able to work in the thick of "busy season", when tax returns are due for submission and work is very busy. The author tired of working long hours and continuous talking with his accounting friends how working on Saturdays and long weeknights was generally accepted. Best value principles from Dr. Dean Kashiwagi's Information Measurement Theory were applied to examine how to maximize efficiency in public accounting and reduce the workload. After reviewing how Information Measurement Theory applies to public accounting, the author deemed three possible solutions to improve the working conditions of public accountants. First, to decrease the work load during busy season, tax organizers need to be sent earlier and staff should be assigned to oversee this information gathering. Second, in order to better prepare new hires to become partners, the career path needs to be outlined on day one with a career guide. Finally, in order to more successfully on board new hires due to the steep learning in public accounting, firms should utilize buddy systems and encourage organic mentoring.
ContributorsBohmke, Scott (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The present study investigates the differences in the academic motivation of traditional and non-traditional students according to Self Determination Theory. Additionally, the study explores the relationships between academic motivation and academic, career, and family stress in traditional and non-traditional students according to the Challenge and Hindrance Stress Framework. A survey was administered to 744 undergraduate students at Arizona State University. An independent samples t-test indicated significant differences between several student groups. According to the results, non-traditional students are more intrinsically motivated "to know" and traditional students are more extrinsically motivated by "identified regulation" and "external regulation". Additionally, a correlation matrix indicated that academic stress is positively related to extrinsic motivation, family stress is related to both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in all students, and career stress is related to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in working students.
ContributorsBickle, Jessica Aaron (Author) / LePine, Marcie (Thesis director) / Clemons, Jamie (Committee member) / Batac, Jo (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
We were driven by the question: what is happening to the popularity of Major League Baseball? In order to answer this question we compared the league structure of Major League Baseball with that of the National Football League. We were able to speak with five former or current members of the respective leagues in order to gain some insight into how the two leagues operate. The main focus of our research was around the payroll structures of the two leagues as well as their revenue sharing policies. In the end, we discovered that Major League Baseball is becoming highly regionalized. The sport is still growing in popularity in terms of revenue and fan involvement, but it is becoming less popular on a national stage. The league is benefitting greatly from factors like the increasing importance of "TiVo proof programming" and a lack of competition. Each league is very different in its own right. While the NFL promotes a perception of competitive balance, Major League Baseball can be plagued by the negative perception it creates surrounding some of its smaller market teams.
ContributorsHeath, Cameron (Co-author) / Linamen, John (Co-author) / Eaton, John (Thesis director) / Mokwa, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The main goal of this study was to understand the awareness of small business owners regarding occupational fraud, meaning fraud committed from within an organization. A survey/questionnaire was used to gather insight into the knowledge and perceptions of small business owners, while also obtaining information about the history of fraud and the internal controls within their business. Twenty-four owners of businesses with less than 100 employees participated in the study. The results suggest that small business owners overestimate their knowledge regarding internal controls and occupational fraud, while also underestimating the risk of fraud within their own business. In fact, 92% of participants were not at all familiar with the popular Internal Control \u2014 Integrated Framework published by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. The results also show that small business owners tend to overestimate the protection provided by their currently implemented controls in regard to their risk of fraud. Overall, through continued knowledge of internal controls and occupational fraud, business owners can better protect their businesses from the risk of occupational fraud by increasing their awareness of fraud.
ContributorsDennis, Lauren Nicole (Author) / Orpurt, Steven (Thesis director) / Munshi, Perseus (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Within this paper I summarize the key features, and results, of research conducted to support the development, design, and implementation of an internal control system at a startup small business. These efforts were conducted for an Honors Thesis/Creative Project for Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. The research revolved around deciding which financial policies, procedures, and safeguards could be useful in creating an internal control system for small businesses. In addition to academic research, I developed an “Internal Control Questionnaire” for use as a ‘jumping off point’ in conversations about a business’ existing accounting system. This questionnaire is applicable across many industries, covering the major topics which every small business/startup should consider.
The questionnaire was then used in conjunction with two interviews of small business owners. The interviews covered both the overall financial status of their business and their business’ pre-existing accounting system. The feedback received during these interviews was subsequently used to provide the business owners with eleven recommendations ranging from the implementation of new policies to verification of existing internal controls.
Finally, I summarize my findings, both academic and real-world, conveying that many small business owners do not implement formal internal control systems. I also discuss why the business owners, in this specific circumstance, did not yet implement the aforementioned eleven suggestions.
The questionnaire was then used in conjunction with two interviews of small business owners. The interviews covered both the overall financial status of their business and their business’ pre-existing accounting system. The feedback received during these interviews was subsequently used to provide the business owners with eleven recommendations ranging from the implementation of new policies to verification of existing internal controls.
Finally, I summarize my findings, both academic and real-world, conveying that many small business owners do not implement formal internal control systems. I also discuss why the business owners, in this specific circumstance, did not yet implement the aforementioned eleven suggestions.
ContributorsDuncan, Spencer James (Author) / Garverick, Michael (Thesis director) / Casas Arce, Pablo (Committee member) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This paper will highlight the ways that Chinese students handle stress due to different reasons and how they solve their stress. The main reasons include different education styles, cultural differences between the US and China, food, language, entertainment ways and religious. Chinese students have many methods to solve stress that include both positive and negative ways. I will provide more details about the ways in the third part in which I report the findings of my survey. My study is relevant because of the large numbers of Chinese students who are studying internationally.
ContributorsHuang, Qin (Author) / Valderrama, Jamie (Thesis director) / Reckers, Philip (Committee member) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Leveraged buyouts have gone in and out of popularity over the last four decades. The first wave began in the 1980's with the rising popularity of junk bonds, followed by years of economic downturn, and then a rise and respective fall from the dot com era. However, in the 2000's, attitudes were high and a period of low interest rates, covenant-lite loans, and relaxed lending conditions gave rise to some of the largest leveraged buyouts in US history. As the name implies, leveraged buyouts are predominantly structured with debt, around 70% of the total transaction value. Private equity firms execute leveraged buyouts on companies in strong industries, who have proven, stable cash flows, with the intent of cutting costs, divesting unneeded assets, and making the chain more efficient. After a time period of five to seven years, the private equity firm exits the deal through an initial public offering of the target company, a sale to another buyer, or dividend recapitalization. The Blackstone Group is one of the largest private equity firms in the US, and, with the favorable leveraged buyout conditions, especially in the real estate market, it wanted to build its real estate portfolio with an acquisition of Hilton Hotels & Resorts. At the time of consideration, Hilton was one of the largest hotel companies in the world, but was beginning to lag compared to its competitors Marriott and Starwood. After months of talks, Hilton agreed to be bought out by Blackstone at $47.50/share, for a total purchase price of $26bn. Blackstone had injected $5.7 of its own equity into the deal. The Great Recession caused a lot of investors to worry about Hilton's debt obligations, and Blackstone was able to restructure a significant portion of the debt to benefit both themselves and their creditors. As new CEO, Christopher J. Nassetta was able to strengthen Hilton by rearranging management, increasing franchising fees, expanding its capital-lite segments, and building more rooms internationally, Hilton was able to grow quicker than its competitors from 2007-2013 while minimizing operating expenses. On December 2, 2013, Hilton went public on the NYSE as HLT. Its enterprise value increased from $26bn to $33bn, and Blackstone was able to achieve an internal rate of return of 19%, while continuing to own 75% of Hilton's shares.
ContributorsNelson, Corey Mitchell (Author) / Simonson, Mark (Thesis director) / Aragon, George (Committee member) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
In the field of Accountancy, recruiting is highly competitive among firms and prospective employees alike. This is particularly true when it comes to the firms Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PWC, the largest accounting firms that comprise what is known as the "Big Four." These firms maintain a large presence and recruit heavily on the Arizona State University (ASU) campus. There exists a defined path for recruiting with these firms; some of the opportunities offered include Office Tours, Externships, Internships, and Volunteer Service. However, as clear as the path may seem to someone who has researched these opportunities, it is murky for most students. Without direction, both students and the firms miss out on crucial relationship development. As an Accountancy major in the W.P. Carey School of Business, I had a difficult time understanding the recruiting process; much of my knowledge came from my peers. As a result, I researched what students know about the recruiting process, and how they learned this information. I also queried the Big Four firms and the student organization, Beta Alpha Psi, to learn what they want from students and how they organize their recruiting process. I surveyed Accountancy majors including both those who went through the recruiting process and those who had yet to go through the process. Overall, the results were consistent with my original understanding; many students lack knowledge of recruiting opportunities and those who did have such knowledge mainly learned of it from their peers and word of mouth. These results show room for growth in connecting students to the firms. A suggested course of action developed based on these findings can be integrated into the ACC101: Accountancy LEAP Program, as well as be incorporated into a student guide in order to better give students direction, a roadmap to the aforementioned path.
ContributorsWhitson, Jillian Layne (Author) / Faurel, Lucile (Thesis director) / Bonfiglio, Thomas (Committee member) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12