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Financial vs. Managerial Accounting LO2 Imagine that you are home during a break from school and are talking to a friend about classes. You tell your friend, who is not a college student, that you are taking managerial accounting this term. Your friend says that she remembers you took ac- counting last term and wonders why you have to take another accounting course. You look a little perplexed and decide to give that question some thought. Required As you think about your friend’s question, you de- cide to answer the following questions: A. What are the differences between financial and managerial accounting (explain concisely)? B. Why do the two types of accounting exist? C. Who are the users of financial accounting information? Who are the users of managerial accounting information? 6. Decision Making and relevant Factors LO3 You have an opportunity to choose a flight for your upcoming spring break trip to Mexico. After a lot of thought and research, you have narrowed your op- tions to four different flights. If there are no delays, each should get you to your destination on time. (It is important to arrive on time as you have to meet a bus at a particular time to take you and other stu- dents to your final destination.) If any of the flights is late, arranging for alternative transportation will be difficult. Basic information about each flight is presented in the following table: Flight 1 Flight 2 Flight 3 Flight 4 Base Price $300 $400 $500 $600 ProBlEMs Flight Time and Connections First Class Upgrade available 6 hours/2 $250 $15 $20 $10 $695 5 hours/1 $200 $10 $25 $10 $745 3 hours/ direct flight $300 Included in airfare Included in airfare Included in airfare $900 12 hours/3 Not Meals (Airport and Plane) Wireless Internet Access Beverages Total Price (all options) $30 Not available $10 $34

 
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Former Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer takes $2.8m hit as executives count Austrac cost Long-term incentives also lapsed, making it five years since the troubled bank’s top executives have been paid an LTI.

Westpac’s annual report, released on Monday, confirmed that Mr Hartzer only received his contractual entitlements after he was ousted a year ago in response to Austrac’s statement of claim. His 2020 entitlements included $3m in fixed pay, offset by $2.8 in lapsed share rights and $21.5m in lapsed CEO performance share rights.

While some executives received a short-term incentive in 2019, there was a clean slate last year on the recommendation of chief executive Peter King, reflecting the bank’s $1.3bn penalty for more than 23m transgressions of anti-money laundering legislation.

Remuneration committee chairman Craig Dunn said the chief executive and board felt it was “fundamental” that collective accountability for the financial crime outcomes in Westpac’s businesses, which had led to Austrac’s action, be recognised.

Mr Dunn said the board had cut $20.1m from group pay, including cancellation of the shortterm incentive for senior management personnel.

“Remuneration consequences were applied to 38 individuals, reflecting the level of direct management responsibility or accountability and the level of culpability for the compliance failures,” Mr Dunn said. “In addition, as the issues took place over many years, a number of relevant individuals had since left Westpac’s employment. “For most of these former employees, a remuneration adjustment was not possible as they did not have unvested deferred variable reward on foot.”

In other outcomes, Mr Dunn said Mr King’s total remuneration target was 10.7 per cent lower than for Mr Hartzer, whose targeted remuneration was lowered by 23 per cent in October 2019.

Mr King’s total pay last year was $3.6m, including $2.3m in fixed pay. The variable reward pool for the bank was slashed by $139m, on top of a significant reduction in 2019. The short-term incentive was also cut for general managers in 2020.

Westpac suffered a second consecutive strike on its remuneration report in 2019, and will be hoping that the consequences doled out to its executives in 2020 will avoid a third consecutive strike.

Mr Dunn said Westpac had reviewed the bank’s executive pay structure and would implement the agreed changes in 2022. In addition to complying with the standard proposed by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the key objective was to place greater emphasis on rewarding long-term, rather than short-term, performance.

“The need to focus on the longer term outcomes was highlighted in the royal commission and aligns with feedback from shareholders and regulators,” Mr Dunn said. “It is also important that the new structure assists in attracting and retaining executive talent to deliver on Westpac’s strategy in an intensely competitive international market.”

Westpac will consult with shareholders on the review next year

Required

I. Explain Mr Hartzer’s remuneration contract using Agency theory.

II. Discuss the shareholders’ ‘strikes’ on the remuneration report using an appropriate accounting theory.

III. Apart from the above theories, what other accounting theories can be applied to the discussion, including the ‘pay cut’ reported in the article

 
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Sensitivity training is also known as laboratory or T-group training. Sensitivity training program comprises three steps: unfreezing the old values, development of new values and refreezing the new ones. Synthesise a diagram showing the three steps linked chronologically. Sensitivity training is also known as laboratory or T-group training. Sensitivity training program comprises three steps: unfreezing the old values, development of new values and refreezing the new ones. Synthesise a diagram showing the three steps linked chronologically. Sensitivity training is also known as laboratory or T-group training. Sensitivity training program comprises three steps: unfreezing the old values, development of new values and refreezing the new ones. Synthesise a diagram showing the three steps linked chronologically.
 
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Write two to three paragraphs describing the background of the case. Repeat the questions from the case study in bold and then provide your answers. In addition to the textbook, other scholarly papers should be used and referenced. APA format must be strictly followed.

Case Study #2 TV and Twitter: How Nielsen Rates Programs with “Social TV” To understand the audience for TV shows, TV ratings giant Nielsen relies on electronic “People Meters” placed into a representative sample of homes throughout the United States to track viewing patterns. In half the homes, Nielsen installs “cross-platform” people meters to detect TV viewing on computers or mobile devices and also to track web traffic. The company also asks viewers to fill out paper-and-pencil diaries about their TV viewing habits. Founded in 1936 when there were very few televisions in the country, Nielsen grew into the ratings giant that can make or break any new program or any TV producer’s career. The ratings affect not only the show’s survival but the cost of the ads that appear during the show. Super Bowl ads, for instance, are most expensive of all because the Super Bowl has the largest audience of any show on TV. In the age of Twitter and other social media, however, TV viewing is becoming a social experience that involves many more people than those in a single home. Viewers, especially those in the coveted 18–34 age group, often share their thoughts in real time as they watch a program, trashing the actors, praising the costumes, or mocking the script. Nielsen began measuring the engagement of the TV audience by tracking tweets and posting results on real-time dashboards for the company’s clients. The analytics software picks up tweets related to a particular TV show by using relevant keywords—actors’ names, characters, incidents, and other tracking tools. It relies also on the hashtags that identify the topic in many tweets, such as #bigbangtheory, #project-runway, or #gameofthrones. The dashboard shows relevant statistics by time period, such as the number of related tweets with positive or negative spin, and it can scroll the tweets as they flash by. Because the dashboard is showing real-time data, clients can not only see gross statistics such as overall number of viewers. They can also see how viewers are reacting to particular scenes or characters as they appear. The software tracks thousands of programs, so it can generate comprehensive comparison ratings for “social TV” viewers, their demographics, and their preferences. The use of Twitter feeds to analyze social TV patterns adds a great deal to Nielsen’s capabilities. For example, Nielsen’s set-top boxes do not easily capture who in the family is actually watching—or even if the set is just turned on and no one at all is watching. Many people leave the TV on so they can record shows they like, though they may not have time to actually view them later. Even if they do, they may fast-forward through the ads. The set-top boxes are also unable to assess viewer attitudes during the show or the ads. Twitter feeds also have disadvantages as an audience rating tool, however. The tweets are not generated from a representative sample, for instance, so their content is biased toward a certain population of viewers. Those who don’t use Twitter are not in the sample, and the feeds may be overwhelmed by a small group of frequent tweeters who are loud and vocal. Despite the drawbacks, research confirms a relationship between Twitter activity and TV ratings measured by Nielsen’s other tools. For example, premiere episodes that generated an 8.5% increase in Twitter volume showed a 1% increase in TV ratings for viewers in the 18–34 age group. The relationship was weaker for other age groups, probably because fewer people outside that group use Twitter. The relationship between Twitter volume and TV ratings becomes stronger as the season continues and is highest for the season finale. This suggests that Twitter metrics are not just reflecting a show’s appeal. The chatter may be creating TV buzz that draws more viewers into the social TV experience. Social TV may also be drawing people back to viewing shows live rather than recording them. If Twitter volume is high during the show, it means that people have points to make in real time. For instance, they may prefer to weigh in on Dancing with the Stars contestants immediately rather than wait until the next day. This trend may mean more live viewers for the ads as well, a welcome trend for the networks and their advertisers. Nielsen is expanding its social content ratings by including analytics drawn from Facebook and Instagram in addition to the Twitter feeds, so TV producers will have a rich source of information about how their shows are faring. While Nielsen will not drop its careful sampling techniques and set-top boxes, the company is leading the way toward new ways to learn about social TV. Discussion Questions 7-23. What potential value does Nielsen intend to add to its ratings by data mining Twitter to analyze social TV patterns? 7-24. What are the drawbacks of using Twitter as a rating tool? Do these disadvantages compromise the value of the Nielsen ratings? 7-25. How might the use of Twitter and other social media be influencing the viewing habits of the American audience? 7-26. As Nielsen extends its data mining of social media to include Facebook and Instagram as well as Twitter, what differences might it expect in the audience being analyzed? Would this analysis have any value to the networks? Why or why not?

 
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