Use this information for the four questions. There are two ways to establish a summer lawn mowing business. Option 1 is to rent-to-own for five years a $20,000 large riding zero-turn lawnmower for $4,000 per year and hire one person to operate this for $15 an hour. With this option, the lawns will be mowed very quickly in very little time per lawn. Option 2 is to rent to own for five years push mowers for $200 per mower for $40 per year and hire high schoolers for $15 per hour to push these mowers. With this option it will take quite a bit longer to mow each lawn. Questions: Which of these options has a higher fixed cost

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?

Grant, inc., acquired 30% of south co.’s voting stock for $200,000 on january 2, year 1, and did not elect the fair value option. the price equaled the carrying amount and the fair value of the interest purchased in south’s net assets. grant’s 30% interest in south gave grant the ability to exercise significant influence over south’s operating and financial policies. during year 1, south earned $80,000 and paid dividends of $50,000. south reported earnings of $100,000 for the 6 months ended june 30, year 2, and $200,000 for the year ended december 31, year 2. on july 1, year 2, grant sold half of its stock in south for $150,000 cash. south paid dividends of $60,000 on october 1, year 2. before income taxes, what amount should grant include in its year 1 income statement as a result of the investment?

Jose recently died with a probate estate of $900,000. he was predeceased by his wife, guadalupe, and his daughter, lucy. he has two surviving children, pete and fred. jose was also survived by eight grandchildren, pete’s three children, naomi, daniel, nick; fred’s three children, heather, chris and steve; and lucy’s two children, david and rachel. jose’s will states the following “i leave everything to my three children. if any of my children shall predecease me then i leave their share to their heirs, per stirpes.” which of the following statements is correct? (a) under jose’s will rachel will receive $150,000. (b) under jose’s will chris will receive $150,000. (c) under jose’s will nick will receive $100,000. (d) under jose’s will pete will receive $200,000.