...ACCT5910 Business Analysis and Valuation Summary of Case This case is talking about Harnischfeger Corporation, leading producer of Construction Equipment, Mining and Electrical Equipment, Material Handling Equipment and Harnischfeger Engineer, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The main topic of this case is the accounting policy changes after financial difficulties and its effect on financial reporting and the motive of these changes. Questions 1. Identify all accounting policy changes and accounting estimates that Harnischfeger made during 1984. Estimate, as accurately as possible, the effect of these on the company’s 1984 reported profit. Harnischfeger made the following accounting policy changes and accounting estimates during the year 1984. - There was a change in the recognition of some types of sales. This resulted in a change in sales calculation. Harnischfeger incorporated products purchased from Kobe Steel, which were re-sold by the company, into its net sales. This increased aggregate sales and cost of sales by $28 million. - There was a change in the fiscal year for some foreign subsidiaries. - There was a change in the depreciation methods on assets. The depreciation policy for financial reporting purposes was changed to a straight-line method from a principally accelerated method. - There was a change in the use of last-in, first-out (LIFO) liquidation in inventory valuation. - There was a change in the allowance for doubtful accounts. ...
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...The University of Illinois Executive MBA Case Summaries Accy 401, EMBA; Fall 2000 Accounting courses are usually separated into five general categories. Two, taxes and auditing, are usually quite technical and often focus on CPA preparation. The other three categories are more general: 1. Financial accounting deals almost strictly with financial statement preparation. It focuses on pronouncements issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the SEC, and on accounting concepts such as materiality, matching revenues and expenses, relevance, and consistency. It also considers highly technical details about consolidated financial statements, leases, pensions, income taxes, and inventory valuation methods that are often found on the CPA exam. 2. Financial accounting from a management perspective covers many of the same topics as financial accounting but it does so from the view of a manager using financial accounting information to help make decisions or to report an organization’s performance to others. This is the typical focus of an MBA financial accounting course, or a financial accounting course in a non-degreed program for executives. It is the primary focus of Accy 401, EMBA. 3. Cost and managerial accounting deals almost exclusively with accounting as a tool to help manage and understand a business. These courses focus on areas such as fixed and variable costs, how costs behave over time (e.g., the learning curve), cost...
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...Chapter 1 The Evolution of the Modern Firm Chapter Contents 1) Introduction 2) The World in 1840 • Doing Business in 1840 • Conditions of Business in 1840: Life Without a Modern Infrastructure Example 1.1: The Emergence of Chicago 3) The World in 1910 • Doing Business in 1910 Example 1.2: Responding to the Business Environment: The Case of American Whaling • Business Conditions in 1910: A "Modern" Infrastructure Example 1.3: Evolution of the Steel Industry 4) The World Today • Doing Business Today • The Infrastructure Today Example 1.4: Economic Gyrations and Traffic Gridlock in Thailand 5) Three Different Worlds: Consistent Principles, Changing Conditions, and Adaptive Strategies Example 1.5: Infrastructure and Emerging Markets: The Russian Privatization Program Example 1.6: Building National Infrastructure: The Transcontinental Railroad 6) Chapter Summary 7) Questions Chapter Summary This chapter analyses the business environment in three different time periods: 1840, 1910 and the present. It looks at the business infrastructure, market conditions, the size and scope of a firm’s activities and a firm’s response to changes. This historical perspective shows that all successful businesses have used similar principles to adapt to widely varying business conditions in order to succeed. Businesses in the period before 1840 were small and operated in localized markets...
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... Contents In Gratitude Introduction PART ONE: WHY GREAT COMPANIES CAN FAIL 1 How Can Great Firms Fail? Insights from the Hard Disk Drive Industry 2 Value Networks and the Impetus to Innovate 3 Disruptive Technological Change in the Mechanical Excavator Industry 4 What Goes Up, Can’t Go Down PART TWO: MANAGING DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE 5 Give Responsibility for Disruptive Technologies to Organizations Whose Customers Need Them 6 Match the Size of the Organization to the Size of the Market 7 Discovering New and Emerging Markets 8 How to Appraise Your Organization’s Capabilities and Disabilities 9 Performance Provided, Market Demand, and the Product Life Cycle 10 Managing Disruptive Technological Change: A Case Study 11 The Dilemmas of Innovation: A Summary The Innovator’s Dilemma Book Group Guide About the Author 4 In Gratitude Although this book lists only one author, in reality the ideas it molds together were contributed and refined by many extraordinarily insightful and selfless colleagues. The work began when Professors Kim Clark,...
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