Should directors be liable for bad corporate decisions? Should they have their director compensation tied to firm performance? Whose interest do directors represent, shareholders or managers? Should managers be prevented from serving on their own board of directors?
Over the past three years, how much stock has Coach repurchased? Why does this not show up as treasury stock in Coach’s balance sheet?
Can you replicate Microsoft’s $6.2 charge? Is the charge a leading or a lagging indicator for the marketplace?
Why would Morgan Stanley want the former chairman of the FASB to be on its board of directors when it already has the former chief accountant for the SEC? (To see the proxy describing current board members, paste this link into your browser and then do this word search: “Chief Accountant”: http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/895421/000119312512151028/d303252ddef14a.htm#tx303252_16)
Do you have what it takes to be (or to become) a “good financial analyst”? Does this type of work resonate with you?
Try to connect the dots: how does using a two year average AA bond rating as the discount rate and requiring full funding of defined benefit pension plans protect the PBGC and hurt corporations? Should the rating window be extended to 25 years? Should the funding requirements be lowered to 80%?
At the front of Tiffany’s 10-K (for fiscal 2011), TIF states “The TIFFANY & CO. brand (the “Brand”) is the single most important asset of Tiffany . . . ” However, TIF does not list its Brand on its balance sheet. Why not?
There will soon be a job opening at the SEC. Are you interested? What qualifications do you think are needed to be the Chief Accountant? Do you think it is a good idea for the Chief Accountant to have been a partner at one of the Big 4 accounting firms? What conflicts, if any, might arise?
Why does the stock price typically drop for the acquiring firm when an acquisition is announced, especially when the acquisition is undertaken to “add value”? In your opinion, is Walgreens acquisition of Alliance a good move for Walgreens? Why or why not?
In your opinion, should auditors face criminal liability (not just civil)? What are the potential negative consequences of the proposed law in Hong Kong?
How did it “appear” that Spain’s banks weathered the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 (at least better than most) but are faltering now and in need of a bailout? Does the accounting treatment used in Spain bolster (or undermine) the case for IFRS being adopted in the U.S.? Or, is there no relationship between this accounting treatment and whether IFRS should be adopted in the U.S.?
Try describing in your own words this dichotomy of the “inside view” and “outside view.” Apply the dichotomy to the decision of whether or not to buy another firm. Can you personalize the dichotomy to a career decision you are making? Is the dichotomy useful, and if so, why? If not, why not?
Where is Nokia in its life cycle? What do you expect to see in this phase with respect to operating cash flows? Investing cash flows? Financing cash flows? Will you buy a Nokia phone in the next 6 months? Will you sell to Nokia over the next 6 months?
So, Nokia is cutting 10,000 jobs. What will be some of the effects on Nokia’s current and future financial statements? Per the article, Microsoft is closely tied to Nokia. Would Microsoft have the same effects on its financial statements?
So, if you wanted to go public after the Facebook debacle, what is your strategy? How long do you “have to” wait? What would be the downside of not waiting and proceeding now?
What did South Carolina’s pension fund managers do to increase returns on the pension fund? Compare the politics involved in public pension fund management to private pension fund management.
How much did P&G spend on advertising for the most recent fiscal year? On R&D? Why are these amounts not shown as line items on the income statement? Should they be? Does it matter?
E&Y states: “The inconsistent application of IFRS undermines its value as a single set of global standards.” Why are IFRS inconsistently applied? Will they ever be consistently applied? Why or why not? Who is going to monitor their application?
If you worked at a Big 4 firm and were the lead partner on an audit, how would you work with a smaller audit firm in a so-called “joint audit”? If you were on the audit committee for a company (in charge of hiring an audit firm), would you want to have joint audits? Who wins and who loses in joint audits?
Why would a company stop buying its own stock when the market price goes “too low”? If you were a CFO, what factors would you consider in the timing of share repurchases? Why do you suppose such a large percentage of share repurchase authorizations go unused?
