Sophia purchased a variable annuity contract with $85,000 purchase payment. Surrender charges begin with 5 percent in the first year and decline by 1 percent each year. In addition, Sophia can withdraw 8 percent of her contract value each year without paying surrender charges. In the first year, Sophia needed to withdraw $12,700. Assume that the contract value had not increased or decreased because of investment performance. What was the surrender charge Sophia had to pay?

Which of the following best describes the purpose of raising and lowering the required reserve ratio? a. to make sure that government spending does not result in either a surplus or deficit. b. to stimulate economic growth by making it less expensive for producers to get loans. c. to manage the economy by increasing or decreasing the amount of loans being made. d. to regulate the activity of private banks to assure an equitable distribution of wealth. 2b2t

Zachary company produces commercial gardening equipment. since production is highly automated, the company allocates its overhead costs to product lines using activity-based costing. the costs and cost drivers associated with the four overhead activity cost pools follow: activities unit level batch level product level facility level cost $ 64,800 $ 27,730 $ 15,000 $ 154,000 cost driver 2,400 labor hrs. 47 setups percentage of use 11,000 units production of 780 sets of cutting shears, one of the company’s 20 products, took 240 labor hours and 7 setups and consumed 15 percent of the product-sustaining activities. required: (a) had the company used labor hours as a company wide allocation base, how much overhead would it have allocated to the cutting shears? (b) how much overhead is allocated to the cutting shears using activity-based costing? (c) compute the overhead cost per unit for cutting shears first using activity-based costing and then using direct labor hours for allocation if 780 units are produced. if direct product costs are $150 and the product is priced at 30 percent above cost for what price would the product sell under each allocation system? (d) assuming that activity-based costing provides a more accurate estimate of cost, indicate whether the cutting shears would be over- or underpriced if direct labor hours are used as an allocation base. explain how over-or undercosting can affect vaulker's profitability. (e) comment on the validity of using the allocated facility-level cost in the pricing decision. should other costs be considered in a cost- plus pricing decision? if so, which ones? what costs would you include if you were trying to decide whether to accept a special order?

In the united states, one worker can produce 10 tons of steel per day or 20 tons of chemicals per day. in the united kingdom, one worker can produce 5 tons of steel per day or 15 tons of chemicals per day. the united kingdom has a comparative advantage in the production of: