Hark, CPA, failed to follow generally accepted auditing standards in auditing the financial statements of Long Corp., a nonpublic company. Hark also took several tax return positions that were not likely to be sustained on the merits because they were not supported by substantial authority. Long's management had told Hark that the audited statements and tax returns would be submitted to several banks to obtain financing. Relying on these documents, Third Bank gave Long a loan. Long defaulted on the loan. In a jurisdiction applying the traditional common law doctrine, if Third sues Hark, Hark will
A. Win because Hark and Third were not in privity of contract.
B. Lose because Hark knew that banks would be relying on the financial statements.
C. Win because Third was contributorily negligent in granting the loan.
D. Lose because Hark was negligent in performing the audit.
Answer: A. Win because Hark and Third were not in privity of contract.
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Is Simpson’s estimate of the NPV of the project correct?
Barbara Simpson is a sell-side analyst with Smith Riccardi Securities. Simpson covers the pharmaceutical industry. One of the companies she follows, Bayonne Pharma, is evaluating a regional distribution center. The financial predictions for the project are as follows: Fixed capital outlay is h1.50 billion. Investment in net working capital is h0.40 billion. Straight-line depreciation is over a six-year period with zero salvage value. Project life is 12 years. Additional annual revenues are h0.10 billion. Annual cash operating expenses are reduced by h0.25 billion. The capital equipment is sold for h0.50 billion in 12 years. Tax rate is 40 percent. Required rate of return is 12 percent. 24 Learning Outcomes, Summary Overview, and Problems part-i-02 13 January 2012; 10:13:23 Simpson is evaluating this investment to see whether it has the potential to affect Bayonne Pharma’s stock price. Simpson estimates the NPV of the project to be h0.41 billion, which should increase the value of the company. Simpson is evaluating the effects of other changes to her capital budgeting assumptions. She wants to know the effect of a switch from straight-line to accelerated depreciation on the company’s operating income and the project’s NPV. She also believes that the initial outlay might be much smaller than initially assumed. Specifically, she thinks the outlay for fixed capital might be h0.24 billion lower, with no change in salvage value. When reviewing her work, Simpson’s supervisor provides the following comments. “I note that you are relying heavily on the NPV approach to valuing the investment decision. I don’t think you should use an IRR because of the multiple IRR problem that is likely to arise with the Bayonne Pharma project. However, the equivalent annual annuity would be a more appropriate measure to use for the project than the NPV. I suggest that you compute an EAA.” A. Yes. B. No. The NPV is –€O.01 billion. C. No. The NPV is €O.34 billion.
Electronic channels are associated with:
A) high cost and narrow distribution. B) high cost and difficulty in accessing. C) low cost and ease of access. D) low cost and narrow distribution.