XYZ Manufacturing reported the following: Revenue $582,000 Beginning inventory of direct materials, January 1, 2015 28,800 Purchases of direct materials 146,400 Ending inventory of direct materials, December 31, 2015 18,000 Direct manufacturing labor 25,200 Indirect manufacturing costs 40,800 Beginning inventory of finished goods, January 1, 2015 45,600 Cost of goods manufactured 223,200 Ending inventory of finished goods, December 31, 2015 39,600 Operating costs 151,200 What is XYZ's gross margin (or gross profit)

You are chairman of the board of a successful technology firm. there is a nominal federal corporate tax rate of 35 percent, yet the effective tax rate of the typical corporation is about 12.6%. your firm has been clever with use of transfer pricing and keeping money abroad and has barely paid any taxes over the last 5 years; during this same time period, profits were $28 billion. one member of the board feels that it is un-american to use various accounting strategies in order to avoid paying taxes. others feel that these are legal loopholes and corporations have a fiduciary responsibility to minimize taxes. one board member quoted what the ceo of exxon once said: “i’m not a u.s. company and i don’t make decisions based on what’s good for the u.s.” what are the alternatives? what are your recommendations? why do you recommend this course of action?

Adamson company manufactures four lines of garden tools. as a result of an activity analysis, the accounting department has identified eight activity cost pools. each of the product lines is produced in large batches, with the whole plant devoted to one product at a time. classify each of the following activities or costs as either unit-level, batch-level, product-level, or facility-level. activities (a) machining parts. (b) product design. (c) plant maintenance. (d) machine setup. (e) assembling parts. (f) purchasing raw materials. (g) property taxes. (h) painting.

Retirement investment advisors, inc., has just offered you an annual interest rate of 4.4 percent until you retire in 40 years. you believe that interest rates will increase over the next year and you would be offered 5 percent per year one year from today. if you plan to deposit $13,000 into the account either this year or next year, how much more will you have when you retire if you wait one year to make your deposit?