At the suggestion of the external auditors, the audit committee of alpha technologies called in bryce miller, cfe, to investigate some suspected improprieties. during his investigation, bryce learns that the company has been involved in several highly-complex transactions with related parties that do not appear to have any logical business purpose. further, alpha’s organizational structure is overly complex and involves some unusual legal entities with overlapping lines of authority. bryce also discovers four large bank accounts in the cayman islands that have no clear business justification. when questioned about these situations, the company’s ceo treats them as unimportant and refuses to provide any further explanation. what type of financial statement fraud scheme do bryce’s findings most likely indicate?

The gilbert instrument corporation is considering replacing the wood steamer it currently uses to shape guitar sides. the steamer has 6 years of remaining life. if kept,the steamer will have depreciaiton expenses of $650 for five years and $325 for the sixthyear. its current book value is $3,575, and it can be sold on an internet auction site for$4,150 at this time. if the old steamer is not replaced, it can be sold for $800 at the endof its useful life. gilbert is considering purchasing the side steamer 3000, a higher-end steamer, whichcosts $12,000 and has an estimated useful life of 6 years with an estimated salvage value of$1,500. this steamer falls into the macrs 5-year class, so the applicable depreciationrates are 20.00%, 32.00%, 19.20%, 11.52%, 11.52%, and 5.76%. the new steamer is fasterand allows for an output expansion, so sales would rise by $2,000 per year; the newmachine's much greater efficiency would reduce operating expenses by $1,900 per year.to support the greater sales, the new machine would require that inventories increase by$2,900, but accounts payable would simultaneously increase by $700. gilbert's marginalfederal-plus-state tax rate is 40%, and its wacc is 15%.a. should it replace the old steamer? b. npv of replace = $2,083.51