There is a danger in letting the client “visit” the project operation too frequently, not the least of which is “scope creep” or informal changes to the project’s performance specifications. What other dangers might arise? How might the danger of scope creep be monitored and controlled?
> Lakeview Software Solutions makes all sales on account, so virtually all cash receipts arrive in the mail. Larry Higgins, the company president, has just returned from a trade association meeting with new ideas for the business. Among other things, Higgi
> During the fourth quarter of 2010, Main St., Inc., generated excess cash, which the company invested in trading securities, as follows: Requirements 1. Open T-accounts for Cash (including its beginning balance of $22,000), Short-Term Investment, Divide
> This problem takes you through the accounting for sales, receivables, and uncollectibles for Mail Time Corp., the overnight shipper. By selling on credit, the company cannot expect to collect 100% of its accounts receivable. At May 31, 2010, and 2011, re
> Healthy Meal completed the following selected transactions. Requirements 1. Record the transactions in Healthy Meals journal. Round interest amounts to the nearest dollar. Explanations are not required. 2. Show what Healthy Meal will report on its com
> Assume Smith & Jones, the accounting firm, advises Ocean Mist Seafood that its financial statements must be changed to conform to GAAP. At December 31, 2010, Ocean Mists accounts include the following: The accounting firm advised Ocean Mist that Ca
> Refer to the Foot Locker, Inc., Consolidated Financial Statements in Appendix B at the end of this book. 1. Focus on cash and cash equivalents. Why did cash change during 2007? The statement of cash flows holds the answer to this question. Analyze the s
> Don Beecher, chief financial officer of Carvel Wireless, is responsible for the companys budgeting process. Beechers staff is preparing the Carvel cash budget for 2011. A key input to the budgeting process is last year’s statement of ca
> Flawless Skin Care makes all sales on credit. Cash receipts arrive by mail, usually within 30 days of the sale. Elizabeth Nelson opens envelopes and separates the checks from the accompanying remittance advices. Nelson forwards the checks to another empl
> Laptop Delivery, Inc., makes all sales on account. Sarah Carter, accountant for the company, receives and opens incoming mail. Company procedure requires Carter to separate customer checks from the remittance slips, which list the amounts that Carter pos
> During the fourth quarter of 2010, Cable, Inc., generated excess cash, which the company invested in trading securities as follows: Requirements 1. Open T-accounts for Cash (including its beginning balance of $15,000), Short-Term Investments, Dividend
> Each of the following situations reveals an internal control weakness: Situation a. In evaluating the internal control over cash payments of York Manufacturing, an auditor learns that the purchasing agent is responsible for purchasing diamonds for use i
> International Imports is an importer of silver, brass, and furniture items from France. Elaine Spencer is the general manager of International Imports. Spencer employs two other people in the business. Marie Walsh serves as the buyer for International Im
> John Watson, chief financial officer of Jasper Wireless, is responsible for the companys budgeting process. Watsons staff is preparing the Jasper cash budget for 2011. A key input to the budgeting process is last year’s statement of cas
> Fresh Skin Care makes all sales on credit. Cash receipts arrive by mail, usually within 30 days of the sale. Kate Martin opens envelopes and separates the checks from the accompanying remittance advices. Martin forwards the checks to another employee, wh
> Each of the following situations reveals an internal control weakness: a. In evaluating the internal control over cash payments of Framingham Manufacturing, an auditor learns that the purchasing agent is responsible for purchasing diamonds for use in the
> Celtic Imports is an importer of silver, brass, and furniture items from Ireland. Eileen Sullivan is the general manager of Celtic Imports. Sullivan employs two other people in the business. Mary McNicholas serves as the buyer for Celtic Imports. In her
> During 2007, Foot Locker, Inc., had numerous accruals and deferrals. As a new member of Foot Locker, Inc.s accounting staff, it is your job to explain the effects of accruals and deferrals on net income for 2007. The accrual and deferral data follow, alo
> At the end of 2009, Great Financial Associates (GFA) had total assets of $17.4 billion and total liabilities of $9.9 billion. Included among the assets were property, plant, and equipment with a cost of $4.5 billion and accumulated depreciation of $3.3 b
> South Pacific Energy Companys balance sheet includes the asset Iron Ore. South Pacific Energy paid $2.2 million cash for a lease giving the firm the right to work a mine that contained an estimated 190,000 tons of ore. The company paid $61,000 to remove
> Parem, Inc., sells electronics and appliances. The excerpts that follow are adapted from Parems financial statements for 2010 and 2009. Requirements 1. How much was Parems cost of plant assets at February 28, 2010? How much was the book value of plant
> The board of directors of Cooper Structures, Inc., is reviewing the 2010 annual report. A new board member a wealthy woman with little business experience questions the company accountant about the depreciation amounts. The new board member wonders why d
> Tarrier, Inc., has the following plant asset accounts: Land, Buildings, and Equipment, with a separate accumulated depreciation account for each of these except land. Tarrier completed the following transactions: Requirement 1. Record the transactions
> Rossi Lakes Resort reported the following on its balance sheet at December 31, 2010: In early July 2011, the resort expanded operations and purchased additional equipment at a cost of $105,000. The company depreciates buildings by the straight-line meth
> Assume Lance Pharmacy, Inc., opened an office in Vero Beach, Florida. Further assume that Lance Pharmacy incurred the following costs in acquiring land, making land improvements, and constructing and furnishing the new sales building: Assume Lance Pharm
> At the end of 2009, Solving Engineering Associates (SEA) had total assets of $17.1 billion and total liabilities of $9.7 billion. Included among the assets were property, plant, and equipment with a cost of $4.4 billion and accumulated depreciation of $3
> Northeastern Energy Company’s balance sheet includes the asset Iron Ore. Northeastern Energy paid $2.5 million cash for a lease giving the firm the right to work a mine that contained an estimated 197,000 tons of ore. The company paid $65,000 to remove u
> Floral, Inc., sells electronics and appliances. The excerpts that follow are adapted from Florals financial statements for 2010 and 2009. Requirements 1. How much was Florals cost of plant assets at February 28, 2010? How much was the book value of pla
> For each of the following situations, answer the following questions: 1. What is the ethical issue in this situation? 2. What are the alternatives? 3. Who are the stakeholders? What are the possible consequences to each? Analyze from the following sta
> The board of directors of Gold Structures, Inc., is reviewing the 2010 annual report. A new board member a wealthy woman with little business experience questions the company accountant about the depreciation amounts. The new board member wonders why dep
> Carr, Inc., has the following plant asset accounts: Land, Buildings, and Equipment, with a separate accumulated depreciation account for each of these except land. Carr completed the following transactions: Requirement 1. Record the transactions in Car
> Romano Lakes Resort reported the following on its balance sheet at December 31, 2010: In early July 2011, the resort expanded operations and purchased additional equipment at a cost of $102,000. The company depreciates buildings by the straight-line met
> Assume Online, Inc., opened an office in Clearwater, Florida. Further assume that Online incurred the following costs in acquiring land, making land improvements, and constructing and furnishing the new sales building: Assume Online depreciates building
> The accounting records of Waterville Video Sales show these data (in millions). The shareholders are very happy with Watervilles steady increase in net income. Auditors discovered that the ending inventory for 2008 was understated by $2 million and that
> Daves Convenience Stores income statement and balance sheet reported the following. The business is organized as a proprietorship, so it pays no corporate income tax. The owner is budgeting for 2010. He expects sales and cost of goods sold to increase by
> Pastry People and Coffee Grind are both specialty food chains. The two companies reported these figures, in millions: Requirements 1. Compute the gross profit percentage and the rate of inventory turnover for Pastry People and Coffee Grind for 2010.
> Refer to Amazon.com, Inc.s consolidated financial statements in Appendix A at the end of this book. 1. Did accounts payable for Amazon.com, Inc., increase or decrease in 2008? What was the amount? What might have caused this change? 2. Examine Note 12 I
> Refer to Amazon.com, Inc.s Consolidated Financial Statements in Appendix A at the end of the book, and answer the following questions: 1. Refer to Note 1 and Note 3 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. What kinds of assets are included in
> The notes are part of the financial statements. They give details that would clutter the statements. This case will help you learn to use a company’s inventory notes. Refer to Amazon.com, Inc.s consolidated financial statements and related notes in Appen
> For each of the following situations, answer the following questions: 1. What is the ethical issue in this situation? 2. What are the alternatives? 3. Who are the stakeholders? What are the possible consequences to each? Analyze from the following sta
> Mark Davis formed a lawn service company as a summer job. To start the business on May 1, he deposited $2,000 in a new bank account in the name of the corporation. The $2,000 consisted of a $1,600 loan from his father and $400 of his own money . The corp
> If unit 1 requires 200 hours to produce and the labor records for an Air Force project of 50 units indicates an average labor content of 63.1 hours per unit, what was the learning rate?
> A marketing analyst has investigated each of the four threats in Exercise 3.5 in terms of NOT being able to ameliorate them and has come up with the following values (again, on a 7 point scale) for each of the threats: #1: 1, #2: 6, #3: 3, #4: 4. Recalcu
> A marketing firm is trying to win a major contract from a large retail company and is concerned with four major threats. (1) Competition: the probability of very competitive bids is high at 0.6, and the potential impact would be substantial at a value of
> You are offered the chance to play a dice game at $10 per toss of 2 die. If the sum of the two dice tossed is 4, you will receive $100. Should you play or not?
> Laptops-R-Me keeps detailed data on their laptop sales. In the last 300 days the number of laptops sold was as shown in the table …
> In Exericse 1, base your decision instead on the worst possible outcome for each alternative. Now consider a decision based on the best possible outcome. When might both of these give you the same decision?
> Your firm designs PowerPoint slides for computer training classes, and you have just received a request to bid on a contract to produce the slides for an 8-session class. From previous experience, you know that your firm follows an 85 percent learning ra
> Explain the reasons for the growth and decay of each source of conflict in Figure 2.6, and for the Total as well.
> Give an example of a case in which project management could be important in your personal life. Explain why, as well as how and why you might organize such a project.
> 1. What has a larger impact on Palmstar’s profits, delaying the 2000HD’s introduction by 3 months or increasing the project’s budget by 30 percent? 2. Are there other factors you would consider in addition to profit? 3. What should Palmstar do? Why? 4. H
> The Chapter mentions that regular functional managers are moving from their classic authoritarian style to a facilitative, participative style because it is more effective. Do you think it took managers 200 years to learn this, or is something else drivi
> Construct a list of factors, conditions, and circumstances you think might be important for a manufacturing firm to evaluate during the project selection process. Do the same for a computer repair shop.
> For each of the projects identified in the answer to Question 5, is the life cycle for the project S-shaped or J-shaped?
> Give several examples of projects found in your city, region, or country – avoiding those used as examples in the chapter.
> In Figure 1- 5, what distribution of large and small circles and squares across the four boxes would characterize a strong, well-positioned product development business? A weak business?
> You are the project manager of a team of software specialists working on a project to produce a piece of application software in the field of project management. Give some examples of things that might go wrong on such a project and the sorts of trade-o
> What errors in a firm’s project portfolio might the Wheelwright and Clark aggregate project plan graphically identify?
> Contrast the three types of nonnumeric project selection methods. Could any specific case combine two of them, such as the sacred cow and the operating necessity, or the comparative benefits and the competitive necessity?
> In Section 8.2, subsection The Audit Report, six elements are listed that should be included in every audit report. For each element, explain why its inclusion is important.
> How might an audit team deal with an attempt to co-opt the team?
> 1. Draw a network diagram for this project. Identify all the paths through the network diagram. 2. 3. Develop a histogram to summarize the results of your simulation. 4. Calculate the probability that the project can be completed within 30 months. Wha
> Can you think of any acceptable ways of assigning credit for profits (or responsibility for costs) resulting from a project on which several departments worked?
> It is frequently suggested that items that will become potential problems later in the project life be decided up front, such as how to allocate revenues or dispose of project assets. How can this wisdom be used for project problems that cannot be fores
> What are the dangers of evaluating a project based on the reason(s) it was selected (such as being a competitive necessity), rather than the goals and objectives in the project proposal or contract?
> What steps might be taken to reduce the anxiety of project team members facing an audit?
> How should a committee determine which closure method to use?
> What might be some characteristics of a good closure manager?
> Under what circumstances is a detailed audit apt to be useful?
> Should the results of an evaluation or audit be shared with the project team?
> Would frequent brief evaluations be best, or would less frequent major evaluations be preferred?
> Who would make the best auditors: outside unbiased auditors or inside auditors who are more familiar with the organization, its procedures, and the project? Why?
> 1. Do you have any concerns about the audit process at ITS? If so, what are they and what changes to their auditing process would you recommend for the future? 2. Critique the audit report. What are its strengths and weaknesses? 3. What are the pros and
> What might make a project unsuccessful during the termination process?
> What are some reasons that a failing project might still not be terminated?
> If the actual termination of a project is a project in itself, how is it different from other projects?
> Referring to the “Evaluation Criteria” subsection of Section 8.1, how do you reconcile the difference between the goals and objectives of the project as given to the project manager in Chapter 1 and these criteria by which she or he is now judged?
> How should an audit team handle an audit where it is explicitly restricted from accessing certain materials and/or personnel?
> How should a PM reconcile the dual purposes of control: conserving resources and regulating results through the use of resources?
> When would spending and schedule variances be more informative than ratios? When would ratios be better?
> Why isn’t there an earned value reporting convention that allows progress on a task to be credited when the task is half completed? Wouldn’t this be more accurate than giving credit only when the task is fully completed?
> Explain how the earned value chart captures all three objectives of a project: performance, cost, and schedule.
> How might using electronic media to report project information lead to problems with control?
> 1. Prepare a Gantt chart with resources for the action plan Dr. Alison submitted. Begin this project on January 2. Prepare a resource calendar for Dr. Alison. 2. How would you handle Dr. Alison’s resource problem? 3. Given Dr. Alison’s availability, how
> How can the PM circumvent the problem that the monitoring system can only report on activities that have passed, thus telling the PM what has already gone wrong but not what will go wrong in the future?
> In such fields as psychology and sociology, verbal characterizations are frequently used to show the amount of some factor. How might one set up such a measure for a project management characteristic such as the “energy” of the project team?
> The chapter includes an example of a firm where the PM dispensed with all the planning formality because no one ever looked at it anyway. What did the PM think the purpose of such planning was in this firm? What should the firm do in the future to correc
> Logically, when using earned value data in the critical ratio formula, should the “budgeted” cost be the planned value or the earned value? What problems occur with each choice?
> If your project management software calculates earned value, or any other standard item to be reported, differently than the Project Management Institute suggests, should you deal with this matter in management reports? If so, how?
> Of all the rules for conducting meetings, the most difficult to enforce is the injunction against the weekly (or daily) standard project progress report (the “show and tell” meeting). Why is this, and under what circumstances do you think such meetings a
> Select a hypothetical project (e.g. designing and building a Web site, installing a new machine in an assembly line, or conducting a major inspection and repair of a passenger aircraft), and briefly describe an example of how each of the following types
> Identify situations where each of the following control tools might be useful: earned value charts, benchmarking, critical ratios, control charts, variance analysis, trend projections.
> When making an estimate for the time and cost to execute a project, should the time and cost required to develop the planning, monitoring, and controlling systems be included as well? Should the actions required to monitor and control a project be includ
> Describe as many types of resource allocation problems as you can, based on the situations described in the chapter.
> 1. Draw a Gantt chart for the construction phase of the project. What is the completion date if construction starts in March? What is the completion date of the project if construction is started in November? 2. Why is it not possible to meet the schedul
> Goldratt suggested that to avoid the student syndrome,” it is a good idea to set the activity durations so short that there is a high probability that the task will not be finished on time. On the other hand, it has long been known that setting up people
> Projects A and B are both nearing completion. You are managing a super important project C that requires an immediate input of resource being used by both projects A and B, but is otherwise unavailable. Project A has an S-shaped life cycle. Project B’s l
> Linking a group of projects together with pseudoactivities creates a sort of superproject. What does this mean, and why would anyone want to do it?
> What purpose(s) might be served by using each of the following priority rules for allocating scarce resources? a. As late as possible. b. Shortest task duration time first. c. Minimum slack first.
> Discuss the advantages of “labor pools” in a project – oriented company. Are there any potential disadvantages with the use of pools?
> Describe the fundamental trade-offs when deciding whether or not to crash a project.
