Question 1

Pensions have been very important to a successful retirement. Employer and Employee both fund parts of company pensions. Please select a NYSE listed company and report on their pension obligations. Analyze the pension obligations, employees covered and future outlook of the fund. Are there any apparent risks that face all pension funds in general.

Respond to this...As outlined under the NYSE, any listed company is obligated to provide plans that cater for the pension of all its workers and retirees. Upon the directive, the General Motors has various plans that ensure all its employees are included in the pension scheme. The plans are either solely sponsored by the company, or both employee and employer are involved in the contribution (Congressional Quarterly, inc., 2007). The amount of pension entitled to an employee of General Motors depends on service years, wage or salary at the retirement time, the age of employee during retirement, and employee type. Every employee of General Motors is covered by the pension scheme.

Various risks face all pension funds in general. These include; longevity risk, inflation risk, demographic risk, and asset- liability mismatches. Market risk involves loss due to negative market movements thus affecting the position of an organization's assets and liabilities (Baker, Logue, & Rader, 2005). Longevity risk is associated with insurance and specifically associated with a loss that is related to unpredictable outcomes of insurance eventualities. According to Baker, Logue, and Rader (2005), operational risk results from failed or inadequate internal processes, systems, and people or external occurrences. Finally, group risk may be experienced by pension schemes once resources are diverted to other entities due to large losses.

References

Baker, A. J., Logue, D. E., & Rader, J. S. (2005). Managing pension and retirement plans: A guide for employers, administrators, and other fiduciaries. New York: Oxford University Press.

Congressional Quarterly, Inc. (2007). The CQ researcher. Washington D.C: CQ Press.

Question 2

There are several advantages and disadvantages associated with the formation of a partnership. List and explain at least one advantage and one disadvantage to this business form. Use concepts that expand the basic and obvious choices.

Respond to this...A partnership is a single business where two or more people share ownership. Each partner contributes to all aspects of the business including money, property, labor or skill. In return each partner will share in profits or losses of the business. Easy and Inexpensive.Partnerships are generally an inexpensive and easily formed business structure. The majority of time spent starting a partnership often focuses on developing the partnership agreement.

Shared Financial Commitment. In a partnership, each partner is equally invested in the success of the business. Partnerships have the advantage of pooling resources to obtain capital. This could be beneficial in terms of securing credit, or by simply doubling your seed money.
Complementary Skills. A good partnership should reap the benefits of being able to utilize the strengths, resources and expertise of each partner.

Partnership Incentives for Employees. Partnerships have an employment advantage over other entities if they offer employees the opportunity to become a partner. Partnership incentives often attract highly motivated and qualified employees.

Joint and Individual Liability. Like sole proprietorships, partnerships retain full, shared liability among the owners. Partners are not only liable for their own actions, but also for the business debts and decisions made by other partners. In addition, the personal assets of all partners can be used to satisfy the partnership's debt.

Disagreements Among Partners. With multiple partners, there are bound to be disagreements Partners should consult each other on all decisions, make compromises, and resolve disputes as amicably as possible.

Shared Profits. Because partnerships are jointly owned, each partner must share the successes and profits of their business with the other partners. An unequal contribution of time, effort, or resources can cause discord among partners.

https://www.sba.gov/starting-business/choose-your-business-structure/partnership

A partnership is a single business where two or more people share ownership. Each partner contributes to all aspects of the business including money, property, labor or skill. In return each partner will share in profits or losses of the business. Easy and Inexpensive. Partnerships are generally an inexpensive and easily formed business structure. The majority of time spent starting a partnership often focuses on developing the partnership agreement.

Shared Financial Commitment. In a partnership, each partner is equally invested in the success of the business. Partnerships have the advantage of pooling resources to obtain capital. This could be beneficial in terms of securing credit, or by simply doubling your seed money.
Complementary Skills. A good partnership should reap the benefits of being able to utilize the strengths, resources and expertise of each partner.

Partnership Incentives for Employees. Partnerships have an employment advantage over other entities if they offer employees the opportunity to become a partner. Partnership incentives often attract highly motivated and qualified employees.

Joint and Individual Liability. Like sole proprietorships, partnerships retain full, shared liability among the owners. Partners are not only liable for their own actions, but also for the business debts and decisions made by other partners. In addition, the personal assets of all partners can be used to satisfy the partnership's debt.

Disagreements Among Partners. With multiple partners, there are bound to be disagreements Partners should consult each other on all decisions, make compromises, and resolve disputes as amicably as possible.

Shared Profits. Because partnerships are jointly owned, each partner must share the successes and profits of their business with the other partners. An unequal contribution of time, effort, or resources can cause discord among partners.

https://www.sba.gov/starting-business/choose-your-business-structure/partnership

Question 3

The development of XBRL has allowed businesses to communicate the content of financial data in a more efficient manner. This has closed a gap for reporting information to external users. Unfortunately, many of these users do not feel this is enough. These users feel they should have access to the entire general ledger, not just the XBRL-tagged reports. Do you feel that companies should allow this additional access to external users? What would be the advantages and disadvantages to both the users and the company? Explain.

Respond to this...The development of XBRL has made financial reporting more accurate and efficient. Information in reports prepared utilizing XBRL is interchangeable between different information systems in entirely different organizations. This allows for the exchange of business information.

Advantages of granting additional access to the entire general ledger would be that examiners or auditors may have less requests when performing audits on an organizations financials.

Disadvantages are an increased risk of confidential information being accessed by unauthorized individuals. This would include increasing external risk of information being obtained through cyber attacks. I feel that the company should not grant access to the entire ledger. Companies need to safeguard their information and control user access.