A "best practice" standard …… A. helps a company move toward performing its value chain activities more effectively and efficiently. B. is the sole means of measuring whether or not a company performs a specific task or activity so as to achieve the lowest possible costs. C. conforms to established industry standards. D. is a measure of a company's core competence. E. is often sufficient justification for maintaining the status quo.

James albemarle created a trust fund at the beginning of 2016. the income from this fund will go to his son edward. when edward reaches the age of 25, the principal of the fund will be conveyed to united charities of cleveland. mr. albemarle specified that 75 percent of trustee fees are to be paid from principal. terry jones, cpa, is the trustee. james albemarle transferred cash of $500,000, stocks worth $400,000, and rental property valued at $250,000 to the trustee of this fund. immediately invested cash of $360,000 in bonds issued by the u.s. government. commissions of $7,900 are paid on this transaction. incurred permanent repairs of $9,000 so that the property can be rented. payment is made immediately. received dividends of $8,000. of this amount, $3,000 had been declared prior to the creation of the trust fund. paid insurance expense of $4,000 on the rental property. received rental income of $10,000. paid $8,000 from the trust for trustee services rendered. conveyed cash of $7,000 to edward albemarle.

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?

Christopher kim, cfa, is a banker with batts brothers, an investment banking firm. kim follows the energy industry and has frequent contact with industry executives. kim is contacted by the ceo of a large oil and gas corporation who wants batts brothers to underwrite a secondary offering of the company's stock. the ceo offers kim the opportunity to fly on his private jet to his ranch in texas for an exotic game hunting expedition if kim's firm can complete the underwriting within 90 days. according to cfa institute standards of conduct, kim: a) may accept the offer as long as he discloses the offer to batts brothers.b) may not accept the offer because it is considered lavish entertainment.c) must obtain written consent from batts brothers before accepting the offer.