In business, intellectual property (IP) is a term applied broadly to any company information that is thought to bring an advantage. Protecting IP through security policies starts with human resources (HR). Which of the following is a challenge concerning HR policies about IP?
1. HR policies are not legally permitted to establish a code of conduct regarding IP; they can only recommend best practices.
2. Due to confidentiality, HR policies are prohibited from giving employees clear direction as to what the organization owns.
3. HR employment agreements enforce the confidentiality of IP after an employee leaves the organization.
4. HR policies and employment agreements about IP may or may not be enforceable, depending on current law and location.

Activity-based costing (abc) is not truly a cost collection mechanism as much as it is an inventory valuation method. the main purpose for implementing an activity-based cost system is to try to overcome some of the cost distortions that occur in traditional costing from product differences when there are variations in size and complexity. however, one of the disadvantages of utilizing abc is that the additional information gathering necessary to implement costing with that level of detail might be beyond the reach of some companies with resource or financial constraints. with this in mind, what kinds of industries or companies do you think would benefit most from using activity-based costing and why? in designing or modifying an accounting system to capture appropriate costs for abc, what considerations do you think would need to be made?