Large airlines sometimes engage in fuel hedging as a way to avoid wild changes in jet fuel prices. To fuel hedge, an airline purchases a futures contract from an oil company that states they will purchase a set quantity of jet fuel at a specific price in the future regardless of what the actual market price is in the future. a. The value of the hedge will when the price of jet fuel is higher. This is because there is more benefit for a company to protect from by locking in a low price now if the expectation is that jet fuel will be in the future.
b. Southwest Airlines is known for its long-term hedging strategy that has allowed it to remain profitable even in the toughest times. The company was able to shield itself from higher fuel prices by purchasing fuel hedges even when prices were expected to be in the future. When jet fuel prices were actually much higher, the hedging kept their low and helped keep Southwest profitable.

Oakmont company has an opportunity to manufacture and sell a new product for a four-year period. the company’s discount rate is 18%. after careful study, oakmont estimated the following costs and revenues for the new product: cost of equipment needed $ 230,000 working capital needed $ 84,000 overhaul of the equipment in year two $ 9,000 salvage value of the equipment in four years $ 12,000 annual revenues and costs: sales revenues $ 400,000 variable expenses $ 195,000 fixed out-of-pocket operating costs $ 85,000 when the project concludes in four years the working capital will be released for investment elsewhere within the company. click here to view exhibit 12b-1 and exhibit 12b-2, to determine the appropriate discount factor(s) using tables.

David burdick is the ceo of acme bubblegum, a successful public company. as one of the cofounders of the company, burdick has enjoyed speaking and writing about the success of acme bubblegum for several years. typically, he speaks at conferences or directly to the press, but recently, he has been blogging about his firm anonymously. specifically, he defended a recent advertising campaign that was unpopular among consumers and pointedly attacked one of acme bubblegum’s competitors. burdick deeply enjoys his anonymous blogging and believes that none of his readers actually know that he works for acme bubblegum.should burdick be allowed to praise his company’s performance anonymously online? should he be allowed to attack his competitors without disclosing his relationship with the company? how would you feel if the ceo of a company at which you shopped was secretly writing criticisms of his or her competition? how would you feel if you knew a writer for your favorite blog was actually closely involved in a company that the blog discussed? 1. define the ethical issue? 2. who are the primary stakeholders? 3. what are the possible alternatives? 4. how could you evaluate the ethical implications of the alternative actions (use appropriate decision rules)? 5. what action would you recommend and why?

Costco wholesale corporation operates membership warehouses selling food, appliances, consumer electronics, apparel and other household goods at 471 locations across the u.s. as well as in canada, mexico and puerto rico. as of its fiscal year-end 2005, costco had approximately 21.2 million members. selected fiscal-year information from the company's balance sheets follows. ($ millions). selected balance sheet data 2005 2004 merchandise inventories $4,015 $3,644 deferred membership income (liability) 501 454 (a) during fiscal 2005, costco collected $1,120 cash for membership fees. use the financial statement effectstemplate to record the cash collected for membership fees. (b) in 2005, costco recorded $46,347 million in merchandise costs (that is, cost of goods sold). record thistransaction in the financial statement effects template. (c) determine the value of merchandise that costco purchased during fiscal-year 2005. use the financial statementeffects template to record these merchandise purchases. assume all of costco's purchases are on credit.