4. Analyze the overall financial situation from a cross-sectional viewpoint. Compare each company’s ratios with the industry average. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each company? Which company is best to invest in and why? (3 marks)

Read the following paragraph, and choose the best revision for one of its sentences. dr. blake is retiring at the end of the month. there will be an unoccupied office upon his departure, and it is big in size. because every other office is occupied, we should convert dr. blake’s office into a lounge. it is absolutely essential that this issue is discussed at the next staff meeting. (a) because every other office is occupied, it’s recommended that we should convert dr. blake’s office into a lounge. (b) because every other office is filled, we should convert dr. blake’s office into a lounge.

Oerstman, inc. uses a standard costing system and develops its overhead rates from the current annual budget. the budget is based on an expected annual output of 120,000 units requiring 480,000 direct labor hours.(practical capacity is 500,000 hours)annual budgeted overhead costs total $772,800, of which $556,800 is fixed overhead. a total of 119,300 units, using 478,000 direct labor hours, were produced during the year. actual variable overhead costs for the year were $260,400 and actual fixed overhead costs were $555,450.required: 1. compute the fixed overhead spending variance and indicate if favorable or unfavorable.2. compute the fixed overhead volume variance and indicate if favorable or unfavorable.

An important source of public scrutiny is "watchdogs." these are: the efforts of a firm's competitors, including how often the competitors attack the firm's strategies. taxpayer-supported government agencies that limit a firm's ability to compete in foreign markets. companies designated by the government to only produce products that support the government defense program. socially conscious groups that make it their mission to measure the social responsibility levels of businesses, and provide consumers with their opinions about the level of corporate responsibility of various companies.