Frank meram attended a presentation by robert macdonald, who was promoting his new book, cheat to win. macdonald was a multimillionaire who had started as an insurance agent and built his company, life usa, to a worth of more than a billion dollars at the time of the presentation. meram attended along with approximately 100 other people. at the beginning of the presentation, macdonald announced that one of the attendees would leave that day with $1 million. all that was required was to place a business card in the basket that he passed around and to stay until the end of the presentation. macdonald pulled meram’s business card from the basket. he congratulated meram and then explained "how this works." macdonald said meram would receive one dollar per year for a million years. he gave meram $100 in cash for the first 100 years. according to macdonald, all meram had to do was attend a presentation once a year to claim the rest of the million dollars. macdonald laughed and everyone for coming. meram, on the other hand, filed suit against macdonald and his company’s parent, allianz sales, seeking the remainder of the promised $1 million. did macdonald make a valid offer that meram accepted by placing his business card in the basket and staying until the end of the presentation?

Milden company has an exclusive franchise to purchase a product from the manufacturer and distribute it on the retail level. as an aid in planning, the company has decided to start using a contribution format income statement. to have data to prepare such a statement, the company has analyzed its expenses and has developed the following cost formulas: cost cost formula cost of good sold $35 per unit sold advertising expense $210,000 per quarter sales commissions 6% of sales shipping expense ? administrative salaries $145,000 per quarter insurance expense $9,000 per quarter depreciation expense $76,000 per quarter management has concluded that shipping expense is a mixed cost, containing both variable and fixed cost elements. units sold and the related shipping expense over the last eight quarters follow: quarter units sold shipping expense year 1: first 10,000 $ 119,000 second 16,000 $ 175,000 third 18,000 $ 190,000 fourth 15,000 $ 164,000 year 2: first 11,000 $ 130,000 second 17,000 $ 185,000 third 20,000 $ 210,000 fourth 13,000 $ 147,000 milden company’s president would like a cost formula derived for shipping expense so that a budgeted contribution format income statement can be prepared for the next quarter. required: 1. using the high-low method, estimate a cost formula for shipping expe