Please respond to one of the following topics.

TOPIC 1: We often hear of corporate scandals involving undisclosed liabilities, artificially inflated earnings statements, ethics violations, etc. The results of some of the more notorious misdeeds have had a very unfavorable impact on some shareholders' life savings, and have eroded public confidence in the accuracy of published financial statements. Do you believe that government has an obligation to protect the unwary investor from fraud and severe mismanagement? What do you think government or other regulatory entities could or should do to protect the public against fraudulent activity?

TOPIC 2: Which inventory costing method should a company use when it wants to minimize taxes? Does your response depend on whether prices are rising or falling? Explain your answer.