Seeing Is Believing

Tyler Poland is a stock picker responsible for recommending Mexican securities for his brokerage firm’s clients. He is often frustrated about the lack of credible information on companies in Mexico. “Everything is always so top secret,” he says. “Any time I try to learn about a company’s activities, all I hear is ‘I wouldn’t know what to tell you’.” In Mexico, it seems, information is power. Trivial or not, information seems to be off-limits to anyone who is not an insider.

Tyler knows that this secretiveness goes way back in Mexico’s history. The Aztec rulers kept their subjects amazed by powerful deities who were both unpredictable and hard to understand. The Spanish followed many detailed bureaucratic rules but hardly ever shared them with ordinary Mexicans.

After independence, the ruling political parties made sure that compromising information never got in the wrong hands.

Historian and novelist Hector Aguilar Camin has written, “In Mexico, powerful people have traditionally kidnapped information. Part of the process of democratization is freeing it.” But “there is still a tendency to want to hold it hostage for some kind of benefit.”34

Most economists believe that government secrecy made the 1994 currency collapse more severe because the Mexican government withheld vital macroeconomic statistics from the international banking community. Many worry now that secrecy will limit Mexico’s economic growth. Yet pressure for transparency has grown along with an influx of foreign investors doing business in Mexico. The rise of opposition political parties and the growth of a free press have fueled a new debate over access to information.

“What good are all of these trends to me?” complains Tyler. “I need better information now.”

Required

1. Discuss at least five characteristics that predict relatively low disclosure levels in Mexico.

2. Discuss characteristics or features that predict relatively high levels of disclosure in Mexico.

3. Accounting measurement and disclosure practices are improving (from an investor-protection viewpoint) in many emerging market economies. What are some of the recent improvements in these areas in Mexico? Discuss the underlying factors that help explain why the improvements are occurring.

Data, computing and information

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Page 1 /5 M150B TMA – Spring 2013/2014 Cut-off date: May 3rd and May 4th Total marks: 80 This TMA should be submitted to your tutor electronically through the LMS system before the cut-off date indicated above. You should write your solutions to the questions in a single word document. Head the document with your name and your Personal Identifier (ID). This TMA assesses your understanding of Units 8 (section 3), 9, 10 and 12 of M150B. It is marked out of 80, out of which 20% will be considered for the continuous assessment grade. It consists of 4 questions. The total marks for each question are shown at the beginning of each question. The marks allocated to each part of a question are indicated in the margin. Important notes: – Before you start working with this assignment, you need to refer to section 8.2 of the M150 course companion to read about plagiarism and how to avoid it. This will help you in getting high grade in this TMA. Arab Open University Faculty of Computer Studies M150 Data, computing and information
Page 2 /5 Question 1 [20 marks] 1. Write JavaScript program according to the following: a. Define a JavaScript function multiConcat, that takes a String and a number as arguments, and returns a String that is the argument string concatenated with itself n number of times (where n is the second argument). For example, if the arguments are ‘Salam’ and 4, the return value is ‘SalamSalamSalamSalam’. b. Define another JavaScript function reverse that takes a string as argument and returns the reverse of that word. For example, if the argument is ‘Salam’, the return value is ‘malaS’. c. Ask the user to enter a string and a positive number greater than 0. Assume the user enters a valid number. d. Print the values entered by the user in the output window. e. Use the function multiConcat to display the string concatenated with itself a number of times in the output window. f. Use the function reverse to display the reverse of the string returned from calling…

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M150-b-TMA.pdf

Relative Valuation Models.

While researching Smithson Genomics, Inc., STH HI)’^ in the Healthcare Information Services industry, you encounter a difference of opinions. One analyst’s report claims that STHI is at least 15 percent overvalued, based on a comparison of its PIE with the median PIE of peer companies in the Healthcare Information Services industry and taking account of company and peer group fundamentals. A second analyst asserts that Srnithson is undervalued by 10 percent, based on a comparison of STHI’s PIE with the median PIE of the Russell 3000 Index, a broad-based U.S. equity index. Both analyses appear to be carefully executed and reported. Can both analysts be right? Yes.

The assertions of both analysts concern relative valuations. The first analyst claims that STHI is relatively overvalued compared with its peers (in the sense of the purchase cost of a unit of earnings, PIE). Suppose that the entire Healthcare Information Services industry is substantially undervalued in relation to the overall market as represented by the Russell 3000. STHI could then also be relatively undervalued relative to the Russell 3000. Both analysts can be right because they are making relative valuations. Analysts ultimately care about the investment implications of their information. If the second analyst believes that the market price of the Russell 3000 fairly represents that index’s intrinsic value, then she might expect a positive alpha from investing in STHI, even if some other peer group companies possibly command higher expected alphas. In practice, the analyst may consider other factors such as market liquidity in relation to the intended position size. On the other hand, if the analyst thought that the overall market valuation was high, the analyst might anticipate a negative alpha from investing in STHI. Relative valuation is tied to relative performance. The analyst in many cases may want to supplement such information with estimates of intrinsic value.

Yuli-One Copters is in the business of designing and manufacturing helicopters for commercial, military and pleasure use.They are considering a $200 million upgrade to their production line for the Yuli Jumper—a two person helicopter with a payload of 300 pounds plus the two occupants.The potential cash flow is estimated at net revenues of $85 million per year for seven years.Recently, they were advised of potential patent infringement and to eliminate this problem they are considering buying a license. SohnCo will sell a license is good for two years of exclusive use of the patent.Yuli-One Copters uses a corporate MARR of 18% and their risk-free alternatives are 4%.The VP of Engineering at Yuli-One Copters estimates market volatility in demand is 40%.The VP of Marketing estimates market volatility in demand at 35%.

1. 1.Since the VP’s trust you, they asked you to figure out the most they should pay for a license from SohnCo.Explain your answer in detail.

2. 2.Yuli-One Copters is known to be aggressive in ignoring intellectual property claims.Imagine they just go ahead with the project as stated above without buying the license.Sometime in year 3 of 7, a court decision requires them to reimburse AllaCo $300 million.Because Yuli Copters has this strategy, they are tooled up to be in court and they incur minimal extra cost in defending their actions.They finally pay, however, at the end of year 4.How does this strategy work for them?Are they better off licensing or being aggressive?Explain your answer in detail.

The closing out, completion, finalizing of a
project is a complex process of checks, audits, and reviews. In the area of
procurement management the actions taken to close out an individual or multiple
procurement actions is time consuming and intricate process of checks and
balances to ensure the project team that the good, services, materials, and
personnel procured were received, action required accomplished and payment was
provided to the contracted party. Many actions may be included in procurement
close-out ensuring the project were properly utilized and services, actions and
materials were provided in the correct quantity and at the desired time and
location.

Assignment 7 Signature
Assignment: Project Procurement Close-out Plan

The
Signature Assignment and reflective discussion should show how you: (a)
demonstrate mastery of the course material, and (b) apply this knowledge to the
real world. For the Signature Assignment you (project manager) will be
developing and assembling a Close-Out Plan for your project.Main Task: Design a Project Procurement Close-out Plan
Write a
paper addressing the following:

• Determine and quantify the tasks associated with the close-out of
  procurement contracts.
• Focus your discussion on termination of contractual relationships and
  settlement of seller claims as well as the successful completion of a contract.
• Categorize the differences in termination of contracts, settlement of
  claims, and the proper steps to close a successful contract.
• To explain your project procurement close-out plan provide within the
  document a diagram that that will recommend your plan for the proper close-out
  of contract given the categorized differences between, termination, settlement
  of claims and the proper steps to close-out a successful contract or procurement
  action.
• Keep in mind many contracts are closed out due to completion of the
  contract.

Support your paper with a minimum of five (5) external
resources In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly
resources, including older articles, may be included.
Length: 10-12 pages
not including title and reference pages, possibly a simple diagram and a
spreadsheet
Your paper should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the
ideas and concepts presented in the course and provide new thoughts and insights
relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing
and current APA standards. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University’s
Academic Integrity Policy.

Activity Resources: Kerzner, H. (2009): Chapter 11 (11.15-11.22) and review Chapter 19

• Ritchie,
  B., & Brindley, C. (2007).
• Teo, T. S. H., & Lai, K. (2009).

Kenbart Company (Redesigning Profit Plan Report)

The managers at Kenbart Company have decided that increased emphasis must be placed on profit planning and comparing ‘‘results’’ to ‘‘plans.’’ A new profit planning system has been implemented to help with this objective. The company uses contribution margin reporting for internal reporting purposes and applies the concept of flexible budgeting for estimating variable costs. Kenbart’s executive management uses the following terms when reviewing and analyzing actual results and the profit plan.

• Original Plan: profit plan approved and adopted by management for the year
• Revised Plan: original plan modified as a consequence of action taken during the year (usually quarterly) by executive management
• Flexed Revised Plan: the most current plan (i.e., either original plan or revised plan, if one has been prepared) adjusted for changes in volume and variable expense rates
• YTD Actual Results: the actual results of operations for the year
• Current Outlook: the summation of the actual year-to-date results of operations plus the flexed revised plan for the remaining months of the year

Executive management meets monthly to review the actual results compared with the profit plan. Any assumptions or major changes in the profit plan usually are incorporated on a quarterly basis once the first quarter is completed. provides an outline of the basic Profit Plan Report designed by the information processing subsystem. The current system produces this report at the end of the month and whenever executive management initiates a change or modification in its plans. Consequently, many different versions of the firm’s profit plan exist, which makes analysis difficult and confusing.

Several members of executive management have voiced disapproval of the Profit Plan Report because the ‘‘Plan’’ column is not well defined and varies in meaning from one report to another. Furthermore, the report does not include a current-outlook column.

Therefore, the accounting subsystem has been asked to work with the information processing subsystem in modifying the report so that users can better understand the information being conveyed and the reference points for comparison of results.

Requirements:

1. Redesign the layout of the Profit Plan Report so that it will be more useful to Kenbart’s executive management in its task of reviewing results and planning operations.

2. Explain the reason for each modification you make in the report.