Payback comparisons Colorado Cleaning has a 5-year maximum acceptable payback period. The firm is considering the purchase of a new washing machine and must choose between two alternative ones. The first machine requires an initial investment of $25,000 and generates annual after-tax cash inflows of $6,500 for each of the next 8 years. The second machine requires an initial investment of $75,000 and provides an annual cash inflow after taxes of $9,500 for 15 years. a. Determine the payback period for each machine.
b. Comment on the acceptability of the machines, assuming that they are independent projects.
c. Which machine should the firm accept? Why?
d. Do the machines in this problem illustrate any of the weaknesses of using payback? Discuss.

Your project team’s recommendations to increase productivity have been approved and your team is now working on an implementation plan. in order to accomplish the plan, several subject matter experts from various parts of the organization have been brought in to assist. you have noticed friction and conflict among team members. some of the disagreement and opposition on your team supports the achievement of team goals and objectives. this type of conflict can be described as:

On january 15, the end of the first biweekly pay period of the year, north company’s payroll register showed that its employees earned $32,000 of sales salaries. withholdings from the employees’ salaries include fica social security taxes at the rate of 6.2%, fica medicare taxes at the rate of 1.45%, $3,000 of federal income taxes, $772 of medical insurance deductions, and $260 of union dues. no employee earned > $7,000 in this first period. prepare the journal entry to record north company’s january 15 (employee) payroll expenses and liabilities.

Suppose that a major city’s main thoroughfare, which is also an interstate highway, will be completely closed to traffic for two years, from january 2014 to december 2015, for reconstruction at a cost of $535 million. if the construction company were to keep the highway open for traffic during construction, the highway reconstruction project would take much longer and be more expensive. suppose that construction would take four years if the highway were kept open, at a total cost of $800 million. the state department of transportation had to make its decision in 2014, one year before the start of construction (so that the first payment was one year away). so the department of transportation had the following choices: (i) close the highway during construction, at an annual cost of $267.5 million per year for two years. (ii) keep the highway open during construction, at an annual cost of $200 million per year for four years. now suppose the interest rate is 80%. calculate the present value of the costs incurred under each plan.