Create a 9-slide presentation in which you analyze cost accounting practices to make a recommendation about whether or not to accept a purchase offer at a lower price than normal. You may either record the presentation or write a 2-3 page supporting report.

Introduction

This portfolio work project will help you to assess a request, complete an analysis to understand the impact on an organization, provide a recommendation, and communicate that recommendation.

Scenario

The Acme Pickle Company has distributed pickles under the “Florida’s Best” brand for eight years from its production facility in Jacksonville, Florida. It sells the pickles to stores in the southeastern United States. Acme normally produces between 8,000 and 10,000 cases of pickles a month but has the capacity to produce 12,000 cases without adding equipment or personnel.

The owner of a twenty-store supermarket chain in Wisconsin, called Super Deals, visits friends in Florida and is impressed with the quality of “Florida’s Best” pickles. He approaches you, an Acme Pickle account manager, with an offer to buy 2,000 cases of pickles to use in a special promotion at his stores. He is thinking of something such as:

“Free jar of Florida’s Best pickles with every purchase of forty dollars or more—this month only!”

He offers Acme a price of $9.50 per case, knowing that it is a very substantial discount from the normal selling price of $20 a case. Acme’s management is inclined to turn the offer down, because their cost is calculated at $10.00 a case. They believe they would lose money if they sold at $9.50 a case. You, on the other hand, believe that some errors have been made in the cost accounting.

Your Role

You are the account manager for Acme Pickles.

Requirements

Your analysis for the Controller and Sales Manager is needed to suggest a different way of calculating the pricing of the pickles that may be lower. As part of your analysis, address the following items:

• Explain why some production costs are variable and some are fixed.
• Analyze the benefit of recalculating the cost of pickle production.
  • How would you recalculate it?
  • What would the result be?
  • What is the benefit to the company of recalculating the cost?
• Analyze how financial accounting of production cost differs from managerial accounting of production cost.
  • Explain the difference between the two accounting methods.
  • Identify the benefits and drawbacks of each method.
• Recommend a plan of action to management regarding Super Deals’ offer.

Below is the cost report for a recent month. In this month, Acme produced 9,000 cases and sold them at $20 per case, which is Acme’s normal selling price. Nine thousand cases are well beyond Acme’s break-even point, enabling Acme to record a substantial profit at the nine-thousand-case level.

Acme Pickle Company Cost Report

Item	Cost
Cucumbers	$15,000
Spices and vinegar	11,000
Jars and lids	10,000
Direct labor, paid by the case	30,000
Line supervisors, on salary	10,000
Depreciation on factory	10,000
Property taxes on factory	3,000
Insurance on factory	1,000
Total Costs:	$90,000
Cost per case (9,000 cases produced) $10.00

Deliverable Format

Your team lead wants to share this analysis across remote locations of the organization and is hoping you will set the standard for how analyses and decisions of this type should be presented and supported. Your team has requested either a recorded presentation (including slides and notes) or a presentation and supporting reporting that can be distributed as a model. Prepare a presentation of at least 9 slides using PowerPoint or software of your choice detailing your recommendation and the information you used to make your recommendation. You can either record the presentation or prepare a separate report supporting the presentation.

If you choose to record your presentation, you may use Capella-supported Kaltura Media or Adobe Connect, or another technology of your choice that produces a shareable URL. Kaltura is recording software that can be used to create webcam, screen, and audio recordings. Adobe Connect is web conferencing software that can be used for individual or group presentations, as well as collaborative needs, such as meetings and sharing documents. Refer to the MBA Program Resources for the Using Kaltura or Using Adobe Connect tutorials to prepare for this option. If you choose to use something other than Kaltura Media or Adobe Connect, ensure that it creates a shareable URL and can be embedded in the courseroom to ensure faculty can access your recording.

Recommendation requirements:

• Presentation slides:
  • Create at least 9 slides detailing your recommendation and the information you used to make your recommendation.
  • Include additional details as slide notes.
• Supporting information. Choose one of the following options:
  • Record your presentation.
  • Create a 2–3 page report to support your slides.

Related company standards:

• The recommendation report is a professional document and should therefore follow the corresponding MBA Academic and Professional Document Guidelines, including single-spaced paragraphs.
• In addition to the presentation or report materials, include:
  • Title (slide or page).
  • References (slide or page).
  • Appendix with supporting materials.
  • At least two APA-formatted references.

Evaluation

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies through corresponding scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Explain how accounting concepts and practices impact financial reporting.
  • Explain why some production costs are variable and some are fixed.
• Competency 2: Apply principles of accounting to assess financial performance.
  • Analyze how financial accounting of production cost differs from managerial accounting of production cost.
• Competency 3: Analyze accounting information to support business decisions.
  • Analyze the benefit of recalculating the cost of pickle production.
  • Recommend a plan of action to management.
• Competency 4: Communicate financial information with multiple stakeholders.
  • Communicate accounting information clearly.

Faculty will use the scoring guide to review your deliverable as if they were the Controller or Sales Manager. Along with reviewing the content, they will also review the way you present this content. Review the scoring guide prior to developing and submitting your assessment.

Criteria	Non-performance	Basic	Proficient	Distinguished
Explain why some production costs are variable and some are fixed.	Does not explain why some production costs are variable and some are fixed.	Identifies fixed and variable production costs but does not explain why they are so.	Explains why some production costs are variable and some are fixed.	Explains why some production costs are variable and some are fixed and provides examples.
Analyze the benefit of recalculating the cost of pickle production.	Does not analyze how the production cost can be recalculated.	Explains that the production cost can be recalculated but does not explain the benefits.	Analyzes the benefit of recalculating the cost of pickle production.	Analyzes the benefit of recalculating the cost of pickle production and includes examples of benefits to the company.
Analyze how financial accounting of production cost differs from managerial accounting of production cost.	Does not analyze how financial accounting of production cost differs from managerial accounting of production cost.	Explains the difference between managerial and financial accounting but does not analyze the difference it would make in the production cost of pickles.	Analyzes how financial accounting of production cost differs from managerial accounting of production cost.	Analyzes, in detail, how financial accounting of production cost differs from managerial accounting of production cost and provides examples illustrating the differences in taxes and profits.
Recommend a plan of action to management.	Does not recommend a plan of action to management.	Suggests potential actions to management.	Recommends a plan of action to management.	Recommends a plan of action to management using sound financial information to support the recommendation.
Communicate accounting information clearly.	Does not communicate accounting information effectively.	Communicates accounting information, but some information is not clear.	Communicates accounting information clearly.	Communicates clearly and engages the reader with the fluidity of expression. There are few if any errors of mechanics, grammar, or style.

Week 1 Evicted Discussion

From Matthew Desmond’s Evicted, please read pp. 1-43 (Prologue + ch. 1-3). Then post a 250-word response about what fascinated or interested you from the reading and why. Be specific, nuanced, and cite the page numbers from the text.

Next, please respond to one of your peers’ posts. Start off by introducing yourself and saying hi! Then feel free to add insight, to ask questions, to (respectfully) agree or disagree, to further explore a point raised by your peer, or to make a connection to other parts of the text or something outside the text. We are opening up a scholarly conversation!

And then reply:

When reading the prologue, I had not expected the first few chapters to revolve around the landlord, Sherrena Tarver, as opposed to Arleen, Jori, and Jafaris. I think that the author was really smart in getting the landlords point of view on the situations they have to deal with, as landlords are often seen as heartless people who just care about the money. I do not believe this is the case with Sherrena because although she is focused on taking care of her life, she makes sure to help those who really need it. It was also saddening to read that just because the door was kicked down, Arleen and her two boys had to find another place to live. However, this made a bit of sense when I later read that “there are other ways, cheaper and quicker ways, for landlords to remove a family than through court order” and one of them is when a landlord will remove the front door purposely (4). I am still confused as to why this was legal and how it works. Is it because without a front door, the house can be considered as no longer a house and just property? Maybe this makes it easier for landlords to kick out the tenants because they would technically be trespassing if there is no formal lease and no “house.” Another aspect of reading the book that caught my attention and surprised me was the fact that when Sherrena was at the Milwaukee Real Estate Investors Networking Group meeting, and the topic of asbestos was brought up in which “one landlord asked whether he would have to report the presence of asbestos to the city or the tenants if he tested for it” in which the answer was no (29). I was in shock reading that because asbestos is a serious problem and while I knew that the living conditions for the poor were bad, I did not know that in some places, tenants did not know of hidden dangers that they were subject to because the landlords kept it from them.

Answer the following questions. The first question is based on two of the attachments. The second question is based on the article in the link. The third question is based on an attached article. There is no word restriction on this assignment. Just make sure to write a convenient and correct answers based on information from the readings.

1. Montgomery explains that communicating science to the public “demands something closer to a rewriting of scientific knowledge, adapting it to a wholly different context of presentation and audience” (277). Along with this, Montgomery helps us understand the constraints on science journalists (which apply more broadly to other contexts of science writing). However, Montgomery doesn’t provide much concrete advice on how to actually rewrite for non-expert audiences. Luckily for us, Fahnestock and Penrose & Katz do. What are the accommodation/adaptation strategies that Fahnestock and Penrose & Katz provide us and which of these seem most useful to you?

2. Continuing from Question 1, I’d like you to explain which adaptation strategies you see at use in the following text:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2164086-a-fif…

3. Randall Munroe, creator of the XKCD webcomic, recently published the book Thing Explainer, which is a humorous take on adapting complex scientific information. Do you see it as a useful exercise to write science using only the “ten hundred” most common words? What would Penrose & Katz say about Munroe’s text, which mostly redefines scientific jargon?

Competency

Apply duty-based ethical theories to contemporary moral issues.

Instructions

In this research-based assessment, you will be applying a Kantian perspective to a contemporary moral issue. Current contemporary moral issues range from genetic engineering to issues related to the use of torture in wartime. For this assessment you will need to research contemporary moral issues and select one that will be the focus of your paper as you apply the Kantian perspective. Once you select your moral issue, you will need to address the following in a properly formatted research paper.

• Explain what duty is according to Kant and how this view differs from other senses of duty.
• Describe the relationship between a good will and duty for Kant.
• Differentiate the two formulations of the Categorical Imperative.
• How do these formulations apply to your selected contemporary moral issue?
• Using the foundation of Kant’s moral theory explain how there is a moral duty for your selected contemporary moral issues.
• Express your view as a maxim.
• How feasible is it to universalize your maxim?
• How does your maxim fulfill/satisfy each of these formulations?

In your paper, ensure that you use credible academic sources, and cite them properly.

Grading Rubric

0	0	80	90	100
No Pass	No Pass	Competence	Proficiency	Mastery
Not Submitted	An inadequate or inappropriate explanation of what duty is according to Kant and how this view differs from other senses of duty	Explains what duty is according to Kant and how this view differs from other senses of duty with supporting information.	Explains what duty is according to Kant and how this view differs from other senses of duty with strong supporting information.	Explains what duty is according to Kant and how this view differs from other senses of duty with well-integrated, strong supporting information.
Not Submitted	An inadequate or inappropriate description of the relationship between a good will and duty for Kant.	Describes with generalities the relationship between a good will and duty for Kant.	Adequately describes the relationship between a good will and duty for Kant.	Thoroughly describes the relationship between a good will and duty for Kant.
Not Submitted	An inadequate or inappropriate differentiation of the two formulations of the Categorical Imperative	Differentiates the two formulations of the Categorical Imperative with basic information.	Differentiates the two formulations of the Categorical Imperative with strong supporting information.	Differentiates the two formulations of the Categorical Imperative in strong detail and supporting information.
Not Submitted	Incorrectly identifies a contemporary moral issue and/or An inadequate or inappropriate discussion of how these formulations apply to the selected issue.	Correctly identifies a contemporary moral issue and discusses how these formulations apply to the selected issue with basic supporting information.	Correctly identifies a contemporary moral issue and discusses how these formulations apply to the selected issue with supporting information.	Correctly identifies a contemporary moral issue and thoroughly discusses how these formulations apply to the selected issue in strong detail and supporting information.
Not Submitted	An inadequate or inappropriate explanation of, using the foundation of Kant’s moral theory, how there is a moral duty for the selected issue.	Explains, using the foundation of Kant’s moral theory, how there is a moral duty for the selected issue with strong supporting evidence.	Explains, using the foundation of Kant’s moral theory, how there is a moral duty for the selected issue with supporting evidence.	Explains, using the foundation of Kant’s moral theory, how there is a moral duty for the selected issue with strong supporting evidence.
Not Submitted	Incorrectly creates a maxim And/or An inadequate or inappropriate explanation of how feasible is it to universalize the maxim.	Creates an applicable maxim with a sufficient explanation as to how feasible is it to universalize the maxim.	Creates an applicable maxim with a detailed explanation as to how feasible is it to universalize the maxim.	Creates an applicable maxim with a thorough and detailed explanation as to how feasible is it to universalize the maxim.
Not Submitted	An inadequate or inappropriate explanation of how maxim fulfill/satisfy each of the formulations.	Explains how maxim fulfill/satisfy each of the formulations with basic supporting evidence.	Explains how maxim fulfill/satisfy each of the formulations with supporting evidence.	Explains how maxim fulfill/satisfy each of the formulations with strong supporting evidence.

Part 1.

Keeping in mind the utility theory and optimizing staffing outcome strategies discussed in Chapter 3 of the course textbook, discuss the pros and cons of using existing applicant pools (“making”) or investing in recruitment efforts (“buying”) to expand applicant pools.

• Which strategies are most costly?
• Which might maximize staffing outcomes and why?
• Finally, apply these concepts to the real world. Browse various recruiting websites (e.g., Monster.com, LinkedIn) and describe the ways organizations attempt to entice What are the similarities? What ways do they try to differentiate themselves?

Your initial response should be a minimum of 200 words. Graduate school students learn to assess the perspectives of several scholars. Support your response with at least one scholarly resource in addition to the text.

Part 2

Define and discuss the purpose of a performance management system. What are some of the benefits and challenges of a performance management system? Next, discuss how you have seen a performance management system working at a current or former employer or research a company online, noting the impact on employee behavior.

Your initial response should be a minimum of 200 words. Graduate school students learn to assess the perspectives of several scholars. Support your response with at least one scholarly resource in addition to the text.