1. Accrual income versus cash flow for a period Thomas Book Sales, Inc., supplies textbooks to college and university bookstores. The books are shipped with a proviso that they must be paid for within 30 days but can be returned for a full refund credit within 90 days. In 2014, Thomas shipped and billed book titles totaling $760,000. Collections, net of return credits, during the year totaled $690,000. The company spent $300,000 acquiring the books that it shipped.

a. Using accrual accounting and the preceding values, show the firm's net profit for the past year.
b. Using cash accounting and the preceding values, show the firm's net cash flow for the past year.
c. Which of these statements is more useful to the financial manager? Why?

2. Interest versus dividend income During the year just ended, Shering Distributors, Inc., had pretax earnings from operations of $490,000. In addition, during the year it received $20,000 in income from interest on bonds it held in Zig Manufacturing and received $20,000 in income from dividends on its 5% common stock holding in Tank Industries, Inc. Shering is in the 40% tax bracket and is eligible for a 70% dividend exclusion on its Tank Industries stock.

a. Calculate the firm's tax on its operating earnings only.
b. Find the tax and the after-tax amount attributable to the interest income from Zig Manufacturing bonds.
c. Find the tax and the after-tax amount attributable to the dividend income from the Tank Industries, Inc., common stock.
d. Compare, contrast, and discuss the after-tax amounts resulting from the interest income and dividend income calculated in parts b and c.
e. What is the firm's total tax liability for the year?

3. Income statement preparation On December 31, 2015, Cathy Chen, a self-employed certified public accountant (CPA), completed her first full year in business. During the year, she billed $360,000 for her accounting services. She had two employees, a bookkeeper and a clerical assistant. In addition to her monthly salary of $8,000, Ms. Chen paid annual salaries of $48,000 and $36,000 to the bookkeeper and the clerical assistant, respectively. Employment taxes and benefit costs for Ms. Chen and her employees totaled $34,600 for the year. Expenses for office supplies, including postage, totaled $10,400 for the year. In addition, Ms. Chen spent $17,000 during the year on tax-deductible travel and entertainment associated with client visits and new business development. Lease payments for the office space rented (a taxdeductible expense) were $2,700 per month. Depreciation expense on the office furniture and fixtures was $15,600 for the year. During the year, Ms. Chen paid interest of $15,000 on the $120,000 borrowed to start the business. She paid an average tax rate of 30% during 2015.

a. Prepare an income statement for Cathy Chen, CPA, for the year ended December 31, 2015.
b. Evaluate her 2015 financial performance

4.  Capital gains taxes Perkins Manufacturing is considering the sale of two nondepreciable assets, X and Y. Asset X was purchased for $2,000 and will be sold today for $2,250. Asset Y was purchased for $30,000 and will be sold today for $35,000. The firm is subject to a 40% tax rate on capital gains.

a. Calculate the amount of capital gain, if any, realized on each of the assets.
b. Calculate the tax on the sale of each asset.

5. Merit Enterprise Corp.

Sara Lehn, chief financial officer of Merit Enterprise Corp., was reviewing her presentation one last time before her upcoming meeting with the board of directors. Merit's business had been brisk for the last 2 years, and the company's CEO was pushing for a dramatic expansion of Merit's production capacity. Executing the CEO's plans would require $4 billion in capital in addition to $2 billion in excess cash that the firm had built up. Sara's immediate task was to brief the board on options for raising the needed $4 billion.

Unlike most companies its size, Merit had maintained its status as a private company, financing its growth by reinvesting profits and, when necessary, borrowing from banks. Whether Merit could follow that same strategy to raise the $4 billion necessary to expand at the pace envisioned by the firm's CEO was uncertain, although it seemed unlikely to Sara. She had identified the following two options for the board to consider.

Option 1: Merit could approach JPMorgan Chase, a bank that had served Merit well for many years with seasonal credit lines as well as medium-term loans. Lehn believed that JPMorgan was unlikely to make a $4 billion loan to Merit on its own, but it could probably gather a group of banks together to make a loan of this magnitude.

However, the banks would undoubtedly demand that Merit limit further borrowing and provide JPMorgan with periodic financial disclosures so that it could monitor Merit's financial condition as Merit expanded its operations.

Option 2: Merit could convert to public ownership, issuing stock to the public in the primary market. With Merit's excellent financial performance in recent years, Sara thought that its stock could command a high price in the market and that many investors would want to participate in any stock offering that Merit conducted. Becoming a public company would also allow Merit, for the first time, to offer employees compensation in the form of stock or stock options, thereby creating stronger incentives for employees to help the firm succeed. On the other hand, Sara knew that public companies faced extensive disclosure requirements and other regulations that Merit had never had to confront as a private firm. Furthermore, with stock trading in the secondary market, who knew what kind of individuals or institutions might wind up holding a large chunk of Merit stock?

TO DO

a. Discuss the pros and cons of option 1, and prioritize your thoughts. What are the most positive aspects of this option, and what are the biggest drawbacks?

b. Do the same for option 2.

c. Which option do you think that Sara should recommend to the board, and why?

6. Balance sheet preparation Use the appropriate items from the following list to prepare in good form Mellark's Baked Goods balance sheet at December 31, 2015.

LG 1
LG 1
LG 1

7.  Income statement preparation Adam and Arin Adams have collected their personal income and expense information and have asked you to put together an income and expense statement for the year ended December 31, 2015. The following information is received from the Adams family.

Adam's salary $45,000 Utilities $ 3,200
Arin's salary 30,000 Groceries 2,200
Interest received 500 Medical 1,500
Dividends received 150 Property taxes 1,659
Auto insurance 600 Income tax, Social Security 13,000
Home insurance 750 Clothes and accessories 2,000
Auto loan payment 3,300 Gas and auto repair 2,100
Mortgage payment 14,000 Entertainment 2,000
Value ($000) at Value ($000) at
Item December 31, 2015 Item December 31, 2015
Accounts payable $ 220 Inventories $ 375
Accounts receivable 450 Land 100
Accruals 55 Long-term debts 420
Accumulated depreciation 265 Machinery 420
Buildings 225 Marketable securities 75
Cash 215 Notes payable 475
Common stock (at par) 90 Paid-in capital in excess
Cost of goods sold 2,500 of par 360
Depreciation expense 45 Preferred stock 100
Equipment 140 Retained earnings 210
Furniture and fixtures 170 Sales revenue 3,600
General expense 320 Vehicles 25

8. Statement of retained earnings Hayes Enterprises began 2015 with a retained earnings balance of $928,000. During 2015, the firm earned $377,000 after taxes. From this amount, preferred stockholders were paid $47,000 in dividends. At year end 2015, the firm's retained earnings totaled $1,048,000. The firm had 140,000 shares of common stock outstanding during 2015.

a. Prepare a statement of retained earnings for the year ended December 31, 2015, for Hayes Enterprises. (Note: Be sure to calculate and include the amount of cash dividends paid in 2015.)

b. Calculate the firm's 2015 earnings per share (EPS).

c. How large a per-share cash dividend did the firm pay on common stock during 2015?

9.  Accounts receivable management An evaluation of the books of Blair Supply, which follows, gives the end-of-year accounts receivable balance, which is believed to consist of amounts originating in the months indicated. The company had annual sales of $2.4 million. The firm extends 30-day credit terms.

a. Use the year-end total to evaluate the firm's collection system.
b. If 70% of the firm's sales occur between July and December, would this information affect the validity of your conclusion in part a? Explain.

9. Debt analysis Springfield Bank is evaluating Creek Enterprises, which has requested a $4,000,000 loan, to assess the firm's financial leverage and financial risk. On the basis of the debt ratios for Creek, along with the industry averages (see the top of the next page) and Creek's recent financial statements (following), evaluate and recommend appropriate action on the loan request.

Creek Enterprises Income Statement for the Year Ended December 31, 2015

Sales revenue $30,000,000
Less: Cost of goods sold 21,000,000
Gross profits $ 9,000,000
Less: Operating expenses
Selling expense $ 3,000,000
General and administrative expenses 1,800,000
Lease expense 200,000
Depreciation expense 1,000,000
Total operating expense $ 6,000,000
Operating profits $ 3,000,000
Less: Interest expense 1,000,000
Net profits before taxes $ 2,000,000
Less: Taxes (rate 5 40%) 800,000
Net profits after taxes $ 1,200,000
Less: Preferred stock dividends 100,0000
Earnings available for common stockholders $ 1,100,000

10. Common-size statement analysis A common-size income statement for Creek Enterprises' 2014 operations follows. Using the firm's 2015 income statement presented in Question 9, develop the 2015 common-size income statement and compare it with the 2014 statement. Which areas require further analysis and investigation?

Creek Enterprises Common-Size Income Statement for the Year Ended December 31, 2014

Sales revenue ($35,000,000) 100.0%
Less: Cost of goods sold 65.9
Gross profits 34.1%
Less: Operating expenses
Selling expense 12.7%
General and administrative expenses 6.3
Lease expense 0.6
Depreciation expense 3.6
Total operating expense 23.2
Operating profits 10.9%
Less: Interest expense 1.5
Net profits before taxes 9.4%
Less: Taxes (rate 5 40%) 3.8
Net profits after taxes 5.6%
Less: Preferred stock dividends 0.1
Earnings available for common stockholders 5.5%

11. The relationship between financial leverage and profitability Pelican Paper, Inc., and Timberland Forest, Inc., are rivals in the manufacture of craft papers. Some financial statement values for each company follow. Use them in a ratio analysis that compares the firms' financial leverage and profitability.

Item Pelican Paper, Inc. Timberland Forest, Inc.
Total assets $10,000,000 $10,000,000
Total equity (all common) 9,000,000 5,000,000
Total debt 1,000,000 5,000,000
Annual interest 100,000 500,000
Total sales 25,000,000 25,000,000
EBIT 6,250,000 6,250,000
Earnings available for
common stockholders
3,690,000 3,450,000

a. Calculate the following debt and coverage ratios for the two companies. Discuss their financial risk and ability to cover the costs in relation to each other.

1. Debt ratio

2. Times interest earned ratio

b. Calculate the following profitability ratios for the two companies. Discuss their profitability relative to one another.

1. Operating profit margin
2. Net profit margin
3. Return on total assets
4. Return on common equity

c. In what way has the larger debt of TimberlandForest made it more profitable than Pelican Paper? What are the risks that Timberland's investors undertake when they choose to purchase its stock instead of Pelican's?