Discuss the following question: commercials suggesting that “buying gold” would be a wise decision are commonly aired. explain the difference between “hedging” and “speculating” by explaining why someone who wishes to “hedge” against inflation might choose to purchase gold. explain why someone who wishes to “speculate” might also choose to purchase gold. relate the motivations of “hedging” and “speculating” to the topic of christianity. you must submit 1 thread of at least 250 words and cite at least 1 source in addition to any scripture verses cited.

You are chairman of the board of a successful technology firm. there is a nominal federal corporate tax rate of 35 percent, yet the effective tax rate of the typical corporation is about 12.6%. your firm has been clever with use of transfer pricing and keeping money abroad and has barely paid any taxes over the last 5 years; during this same time period, profits were $28 billion. one member of the board feels that it is un-american to use various accounting strategies in order to avoid paying taxes. others feel that these are legal loopholes and corporations have a fiduciary responsibility to minimize taxes. one board member quoted what the ceo of exxon once said: “i’m not a u.s. company and i don’t make decisions based on what’s good for the u.s.” what are the alternatives? what are your recommendations? why do you recommend this course of action?

The sec has historically raised questions regarding the independence of firms that derive a significant portion of their total revenues from one audit client or group of clients because the sec staff believes this situation causes cpa firms to

Verizon communications, inc., provides the following footnote relating to its leasing activities in its 10-k report. the aggregate minimum rental commitments under noncancelable leases for the periods shown at december 31, 2010, are as follows: years (dollars in millions) capital leases operatingleases 2011 $97 $1,898 2012 74 1,720 2013 70 1,471 2014 54 1,255 2015 42 1,012 thereafter 81 5,277 total minimum 418 $ 12,633 rental commitments less interest and (86) executory costs present value of 332 minimum lease payments less current (75) installments long-term obligation $257 at december 31, 2010 (a) confirm that verizon capitalized its capital leases using a rate of 7.4 %. (b) compute the present value of verizon's operating leases, assuming an 7.4% discount rate and rounding the remaining lease term to 3 decimal places. (use a financial calculator or excel to compute. do not round until your final answers. round each answer to the nearest whole number.)