Moe green estimates the cost of future projects for a large contracting firm. mr. green uses precisely the same techniques to estimate the costs of every potential job, and formulates bids by adding a standard profit markup. for some companies to whom the firm offers its services, no competitors exist, so they are almost certain to get them as clients. for these jobs, mr. green finds that his cost estimates are right, on average. for jobs where competitors are also vying for the business, mr. green finds that they almost always end up costing more than he estimates. why does this occur?

Costco wholesale corporation operates membership warehouses selling food, appliances, consumer electronics, apparel and other household goods at 471 locations across the u. s. as well as in canada, mexico and puerto rico. as of its fiscal year-end 2005, costco had approximately 21.2 million members. selected fiscal-year information from the company's balance sheets follows. ($ millions). selected balance sheet data 2005 2004 merchandise inventories $4,015 $3,644 deferred membership income (liability) 501 454 (a) during fiscal 2005, costco collected $1,120 cash for membership fees. use the financial statement effectstemplate to record the cash collected for membership fees. (b) in 2005, costco recorded $46,347 million in merchandise costs (that is, cost of goods sold). record thistransaction in the financial statement effects template. (c) determine the value of merchandise that costco purchased during fiscal-year 2005. use the financial statementeffects template to record these merchandise purchases. assume all of costco's purchases are on credit.