6. Measuring and recording pension expense.Kessler, Inc. received the following information from its pension plan trustee concerning the operation of the company’s defined-benefit pension plan for the year ended December 31, 2011:January 1, 2011 December 31, 2011Projected benefit obligation $2,500,000 $2,850,000Market-related asset value 1,250,000 1,600,000Accumulated benefit obligation 1,930,000 2,620,000Accumulated OCI – (PSC) 540,000 300,000The service cost component for 2011 is $150,000 and the amortization of prior service cost is $240,000. The company’s actual funding of the plan in 2011 amounted to $510,000. The expected return on plan assets and the settlement rate were both 8%.Instructions(a) Determine the pension expense to be reported in 2011.(b) Prepare the journal entry to record pension expense and the employers’ contribution to the pension plan in 2011.

 

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Measuring Our Worth

Read the Decision: Point Measuring Our Worth, page 240.

This Decision Point deals with how we measure the intrinsic value of a life in addition to the instrumental value.

The scenario discussed is that of the Ford Pinto, which involves a decision that teaches the hazards of considering only the instrumental value of a life.

In 1968, Ford Motor Company made a historic decision regarding the Pinto, which was engineered with a rear gas tank assembly that had a tendency to explode in accidents that involved some rear-end collisions. The company allowed the Pinto to remain on the market after it determined that it would be more costly to engage in a recall effort than to pay out the costs of liability for injuries and deaths incurred.

In an infamous memo, Ford’s senior management calculated what the company would likely have to pay per life lost. It is noteworthy that these estimates were not Ford’s alone but were based on figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Using these figures, the costs for recalling and modifying the Pinto were $121 million, while the costs for settling cases in which injuries were expected to occur would be only about $50 million.

Write a APA style paper considering the following questions when assessing this scenario:

1. How should the decision-making process be handled?
2. How should the intrinsic as well as the instrumental value of a human life be determined?
3. Consider how you would measure your own worth or the value of someone close to you. Who are their stakeholders and what is their value to each of them? How will they measure it financially?
   • How much would your stakeholders suffer if they lost you?
   • How much do you currently contribute to society and what would society lose if you were not here?
   • How much would society benefit if you continued to survive?

Businesses have reasons to consider these issues, though extraordinarily difficult; how would you prefer that they reach conclusions in these areas? Provide 3-5 APA style references both inline and at the end of the paper to support your analysis.

Note: This is your opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of the week’s theory linked to personal opinion and outside evidence.

Your paper should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Please include citations to support your ideas.

 

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Measuring species interactions and resulting population changes can be challenging. It often requires intensive field work over several seasons and locations, extensive funding, and numerous skilled scientists. Simulations allow us to learn about species interactions and population dynamics through play and exploration. This ecological simulation is an opportunity to experiment with species interactions in order to learn about different potential outcomes. Responses to follow-up questions should be based on the simulation results and content from your textbook, as well as other scholarly or credible sources.  To complete the ecology laboratory assignment for this week, follow the steps below: •Read this week’s assigned chapters •Download and review the Ecology Laboratory Instructions (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. and follow the steps indicated. •Download the Ecology Laboratory Reporting Form (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. All of the data will be reported and the questions answered directly on this form. This is the form that you will submit to Waypoint for grading.  When completed, save the Ecology Laboratory Reporting Form (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. as a Word document. No title page or headers are necessary. If you include any outside resources to complete the questions, then they should be formatted according to APA

ATTACHED ARE THE CHAPTERS FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT. ATTACHED IS THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE LAB SIMULATOR ( ACCESS THE SIMULATOR FORM THE LINK PROVIDED HERE CLICK ECOLOGY AT THE TOP OF PAGE) ATTACHED IS THR REPORT FORM THAT MUST BE USED AND FILLED OUT….ALL PARTS MUST BE ANSWERED!!! ATTACHED IS THE GRADING RUBICS SO YOU KNOW WHAT EXACTLLY MUST BE INCLUDED IN THE REPORT!!!! USE IT!!!!! Kim woods contact me at baldisbest1971 a yahoo. cannot communicte with anyone through here!!!! willing to pay $18

 

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Meckena Enterprise is a commercial real estate developer. You recently joined Meckena and your position reports directly to Lina Cole, the CEO. When you meet Lina for the first time, she asks you to work on a project that has to be completed in about a week.Lina tells you that Meckena is thinking about leasing a parcel of land to build a shopping center. Meckena would own and operate the shopping center and generate revenue by renting space to retailers. Lina would like you to do some work on the project. Specifically, she would like you to complete the following tasks:1. Determine the optimal size of the shopping center (to the nearest 100 square meters)based on existing estimates of the demand for retail space.2. Determine the most Meckena should be willing to pay to lease the land for the expected life ofthe project.3. Calculate the profit under each possible demand curve with the optimum size of the shoppingcenter.4. Determine if it is worth hiring a local consultant, Roland Thomas, to do some additional marketresearch that would provide a better estimate of the demand for retail space.5. Write a short report summarizing the results of your analysis and any recommendations.Lina also informs you that Bob Devine, a former Meckena employee, did some preliminary work on the project, but left the organization before wrapping things up. Lina says that you should have complete confidence in any work Bob did on the project and that you should use his findings and assumptions as a starting point for your analysis. In fact, Lina has reviewed Bob’s notes and quickly summarizes the key information she thinks you’ll need for your analysis.Specifically, she tells you that:Bob thought the shopping center would take one year to build and would last 20 years. He estimated that it would cost $100 per square meter to build and that the annual operations and maintenance costs would be $1 per square meter of floor space.Bob thought that the parcel of land would be large enough to build a shopping center with as much as 60,000 square meters of retail space. He also thought that Meckena should make a one time upfront payment to lease the parcel of land for the expected 20-year life of the project.Bob thought the amount retailers in the shopping center would be willing to pay per square meter of floor space would be a decreasing function of the total size of the shopping center. Bob did some initial work estimating the likely relationship between what tenants would be willing to pay for retail space and the size of the shopping center. Specifically, he thought there was a 50% chance the true relationship would be:r = 60 – 0.001sand a 50% chance that the true relationship would ber =  50 – 0.001swhere r is the rental rate per square meter of floor space and s is the total size of the shopping center in square meters. Furthermore, Bob was going to assume that once the shopping center had been built, the realized relationship between r and s would remain unchanged for the next 20 years.Bob was planning to ignore discount rates and the time value of money in his initial evaluation of the project. He was going to treat all of the project’s costs and benefits equally no matter when they occurred in the life of the project; that is, he was going to treat a $1 cost incurred (or revenue received) at the start of the project the same as a $1 cost incurred (or revenue received) during any other year of the project’s life. At this point, you tell Lina that doing this could lead to misleading conclusions about the real value of the project and how much Meckena should be willing to pay to lease the land. Lina agrees, but says she thinks this approach is good enough for a preliminary evaluation. Bob had contacted a local consultant, Roland Thomas, who could do some additional market research to accurately forecast which of the demand curves (i.e., r = 60 – 0.001s or  r =  50 – 0.001s) would actually be realized if the shopping center was built. Bob was trying to find out if it was worth hiring Roland at all, and if he could be hired then what was the maximum consulting fee that Meckena should offer. a shopping center that is sized optimally for the demand curve that Roland identifies in his report. For example, if Roland’s report says that the demand curve will be r = 60 – 0.001s then Meckena will build a shopping center that is optimally sized for that demand curve. Similarly, if Roland’s report says that the demand curve will be  r =  50 – 0.001s, then Meckena will build a shopping center that is optimally sized for that demand curve. Nonetheless, a decision to hire Roland does not affect the fact that there is still a 50% chance that the demand will actually turn out to be r = 60 – 0.001s and a 50% chance that the demand curve will actually turn out to ber =  50 – 0.001s)Lina also makes it clear that Meckena Enterprise should be considered as risk-neutral. After briefing you on Bob’s findings, Lina wishes you luck and says she looks forward to reading your report in a week’s time. She tells you that the main body of the report must be short (i.e., 600 words at most excluding the title page and any appendices), to the point, and not overly technical. Nevertheless, your conclusions and recommendations must be based on a rigorous analysis of the available information and you should provide a concise summary of any technical details in anappendix. Lina also tells you to be explicit about any important limitations your analysis might have. Finally, Lina tells you that she likes her reports to be broken up into sections with sensible and self-explanatory headings as below.Assumptions and ScopeIf something in the solution that is unclear or contradictory, state your interpretation as an assumption.Major IssuesThese are what you are going to address in your analysis and recommendations. Clearly identify what you regard as the major issues and why you think they are important. AnalysisRigorously analyze the issues you have identified. Base your arguments on data in the case. Demonstrate your critical thinking ability, creativity, and insight, as well as appropriate use of the tools provided in the text or in previous courses. Every issue you identify should be carefully explored in light of the available qualitative and quantitative data. Make the rigor of your thinking evident without overwhelming your reader. Your analysis must support your conclusions and recommendations.ConclusionsClearly explain what you conclude from the results of your analysis and why. If some of your conclusions are speculative or depend on assumptions, make that clear. Your conclusions should be supported by your analysis.Recommendations

 

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