Suppose Hale Specialties decides to incorporate continuous improvement into its budgeting process. Select two areas where it could incorporate continuous improvement into the budget Choices:
A) To continually improve the direct material usage budget, the company should verify that the beginning inventory is as low as possible to decrease the materials used during production.
B) By increasing the target ending finished goods inventory, Hale Specialties will reduce the production budget therefore continually improve the direct material purchases budget.
C) Hale Specialties can continually improve variable manufacturing overhead by budgeting more efficient use of the allocation base.
D) Only by reducing the budget on a monthly basis for the amounts of fixed overhead can Hale Specialties continually improve fixed manufacturing overhead.
E) Direct manufacturing labor can incorporate continuous improvement by revising the budgeted usage of 4 hours and 5 hours on a monthly basis.

Each of the following scenarios is based on facts in anactual fraud. categorize each scenario as primarily indicating (1) anincentive to commit fraud, (2) an opportunity to commit fraud, or(3) a rationalization for committing fraud. also state your reasoningfor each scenario. a. there was intense pressure to keep the corporation ' stock from declining further. this pressure came from investors, analysts, and the ceo, whose financial well-being was significantly dependent on the corporation ' s stock price. b. a group of top-level management was compensated (mostly in the form of stock-options) well in excess of what would be considered normal for their positions in this industry. c. top management of the company closely guards internal financial information, to the extent that even some employees on a “need-to-know basis” are denied full access. d. managing specific financial ratios is very important to the company, and both management and analysts are keenly observant of variability in key ratios. key ratios for the company changed very little even though the ratios for the overall industry were quite volatile during the time period. e. in an effort to reduce certain accrued expenses to meet budget targets, the cfo directs the general accounting department to reallocate a division’s expenses by a significant amount. the general accounting department refuses to acquiesce to the request, but the journal entry is made trough the corporate office. an accountant in the general accounting department is uncomfortable with the journal entries required to reallocate divisional expenses. he brings his concerns to the cfo, who assures him that everything will be fine and that the entries are necessary. the accountant considers resigning, but he does not have another job lined up and is worried about supporting his family. therefore, he never voices his concerns to either the internal or external auditors. f. accounting records were either nonexistent or in a state of such disorganization that significant effort was required to locate or compile them.

In year 1, the bennetts' 25-year-old daughter, jane, is a full-time student at an out-of-state university but she plans to return home after the school year ends. in previous years, jane has never worked and her parents have always been able to claim her as a dependent. in year 1, a kind neighbor offers to pay for all of jane's educational and living expenses. which of the following statements is most accurate regarding whether jane's parents would be allowed to claim an exemption for jane in year 1 assuming the neighbor pays for all of jane's support? a. no, jane must include her neighbor's gift as income and thus fails the gross income test for a qualifying relative. b.yes, because she is a full-time student and does not provide more than half of her own support, jane is considered her parent's qualifying child. c.no, jane is too old to be considered a qualifying child and fails the support test of a qualifying relative. d.yes, because she is a student, her absence is considered as "temporary." consequently she meets the residence test and is a considered a qualifying child of the bennetts.

Laval produces lamps and home lighting fixtures. its most popular product is a brushed aluminum desk lamp. this lamp is made from components shaped in the fabricating department and assembled in the assembly department. information related to the 22,000 desk lamps produced annually follows. direct materials $280,000direct labor fabricating department (8,000 dlh × $24 per dlh) $192,000assembly department (16,600 dlh × $26 per dlh) $431,600machine hours fabricating department $15,200mhassembly department $20,850mhexpected overhead cost and related data for the two production departments follow. fabricating assemblydirect labor hours 150,000dlh 295,000dlhmachine hours 161,000mh 128,000mhoverhead cost $400,000 430,000required1. determine the plantwide overhead rate for laval using direct labor hours as a base.2. determine the total manufacturing cost per unit for the aluminum desk lamp using the plantwide overhead rate.3. compute departmental overhead rates based on machine hours in the fabricating department and direct labor hours in the assembly department.4. use departmental overhead rates from requirement 3 to determine the total manufacturing cost per unit for the aluminum desk lamps.