In an interview with McKinsey & Company, Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, an investment company, says that his clients constantly ask, "What do I do with my money?" But he points out that clients only come to businesses they trust, based on the messages given by company leaders. One of Fink’s skills is delivering a message that creates a connection with clients, inspiring them to trust BlackRock with their money.

Which of the following statements is correct? a. two firms with identical sales and operating costs but with different amounts of debt and tax rates will have different operating incomes by definition. b. free cash flow (fcf) is, essentially, the cash flow that is available for interest and dividends after the company has made the investments in current and fixed assets that are necessary to sustain ongoing operations. c. retained earnings as reported on the balance sheet represent cash and, therefore, are available to distribute to stockholders as dividends or any other required cash payments to creditors and suppliers. d. if a firm is reporting its income in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, then its net income as reported on the income statement should be equal to its free cash flow. e. after-tax operating income is calculated as ebit(1 - t) + depreciation.

Adrawback of short-term contracting as an alternative to making a component in-house is thata. it is the most-integrated alternative to performing an activity so the principal company has no control over the agent. b. the supplying firm has no incentive to make any transaction-specific investments to increase performance or quality. c. it fails to allow a long planning period that individual market transactions provide. d. the buying firm cannot demand lower prices due to the lack of a competitive bidding process.

Xinhong company is considering replacing one of its manufacturing machines. the machine has a book value of $39,000 and a remaining useful life of 5 years, at which time its salvage value will be zero. it has a current market value of $49,000. variable manufacturing costs are $33,300 per year for this machine. information on two alternative replacement machines follows. alternative a alternative b cost $ 115,000 $ 117,000 variable manufacturing costs per year 22,900 10,100 1. calculate the total change in net income if alternative a and b is adopted. 2. should xinhong keep or replace its manufacturing machine