The utility score an investor assigns to a particular portfolio, other things equal, A) will decrease as the rate of return increases. B) will decrease as the standard deviation increases. C) will increase as the variance increases. D) will increase as the standard deviation increases. E) will not change as the rate of return increases.

The following account balances at the beginning of january were selected from the general ledger of fresh bagel manufacturing company: work in process inventory $0 raw materials inventory $ 28 comma 100 finished goods inventory $ 40 comma 600 additional data: 1. actual manufacturing overhead for january amounted to $ 65 comma 000. 2. total direct labor cost for january was $ 63 comma 400. 3. the predetermined manufacturing overhead rate is based on direct labor cost. the budget for the year called for $ 255 comma 000 of direct labor cost and $ 382 comma 500 of manufacturing overhead costs. 4. the only job unfinished on january 31 was job no. 151, for which total direct labor charges were $ 5 comma 200 (1 comma 300 direct labor hours) and total direct material charges were $ 14 comma 400. 5. cost of direct materials placed in production during january totaled $ 123 comma 700. there were no indirect material requisitions during january. 6. january 31 balance in raw materials inventory was $ 35 comma 300. 7. finished goods inventory balance on january 31 was $ 35 comma 400. what is the cost of goods manufactured for january?

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?

2. taxes paid for a given income level rosa is getting ready to do her taxes. she is single and lives in denver. rosa earned $60,000 in taxable income in 2015. she reviews the following table, which shows the irs tax rates for a single taxpayer in 2015. on annual taxable the tax rate (percent) up to $9,225 10.0 from $9,225 to $37,450 15.0 from $37,450 to $90,750 25.0 from $90,750 to $189,300 28.0 from $189,300 to $411,500 33.0 from $411,500 to $413,200 35.0 over $413,200 39.6 based on the irs table, rosa calculates that her marginal tax rate is when her annual taxable income is $60,000. rosa calculates that she owes in income taxes for 2015. rosa then calculates that her average tax rate is , based on the annual income level and the amount of taxes she owes for 2015. after figuring out what she owes in taxes in 2015, rosa decides to ask an accountant for tax advice. the accountant claims that he has found a legal way to shelter $4,000 of taxable income from the federal government. the maximum amount that rosa is willing to pay to learn this strategy and reduce her taxable income by $4,000 is . (hint: sheltering some income means finding a legal way to avoid being charged income tax on that income. for example, someone who has $50,000 in taxable income and shelters $10,000 pays income tax on only $40,000.)