ACTi 6691 Financial/Managerial Accounting for International Executive Case In this case a full set of budgets will be prepared and presented in appropriate format.  Reports will be prepared to explain how budget numbers were determined.   The following are general requirements for this budget case.  Specific requirements are listed after the relevant case data.  ·  Read the case and analyze the information. ·  Prepare an operating budget in standard “income statement” format.  ·  Prepare a narrative report (or notes to the income statement) addressing why/how quantitative items were selected.  The following items must be explained: 1.  Sales Forecast 2.  Purchases budget (raw materials, labor, all resources) 3.  Operating Expenses  ·  Prepare a cash budget using any acceptable format.  The following items must be explained or shown on the budget: 1.  The process by which cash inflows were projected. 2.  The process by which cash outflows were projected. 3.  The process by which financing, if applicable, was determined. 4.  How interest and other financing charges were calculated. ·  Prepare a capital budget using any acceptable format. You will be graded on your understanding of the underlying concepts related to determining budget amounts (for example, how purchases are determined) as well as your ability to prepare and explain standard business reports.  The rubric attached as the last page of this document will be used to grade the case.    Harvey’s Budget1 Harvey Manufacturing manufactures and sells two industrial products:  a self-balancing screw driver and a self-balancing saw.  Both products are manufactured in a single plant.  Harvey’s general manager, Mr. Lipscomb, and president, Mr. Owens, want a budget prepared for the fiscal year 2013.  They have asked various employees to gather information that they believe will be necessary for preparation of a budget.  The information is presented below.  Neither Mr. Lipscomb nor Mr. Owens is skilled in budget preparation.  Both executives have used budgets and have participated to some degree in budget preparation in prior years, but neither has prepared a full budget.  Sales and selling price per unit Historical sales for 2012 the two products are shown below.  Harvey’s sales typically peak in the summer months, beginning with May.  Harvey’s general manager, Mr. Lipscomb, recommends that the budget be prepared with the units sold in the high sales months of May, June, and July be used as the bases for determining the annual forecast.  Mr. Lipscomb’s recommendation is that annual sales be budgeted at 64,000 per month for screwdrivers and 42,000 per month for saws.  Mr. Lipscomb also believes that the budgeted selling price per unit should be equal to the highest selling price that could be achieved in 2012.  He would like to budget 102 per unit for screwdrivers and 130 per unit for saws.  Mr. Lipscomb states that his management team experimented with pricing in the prior year, beginning with the first month of the year. You review the unit sales and unit selling price information for 2012 and recommend a budget based on 60,000 units of screwdrivers at 100 each and 40,000 units of saws at 125 each.  Mr. Lipscomb challenges your conclusion.  Likewise Mr. Owens, the company president, would like to hear an explanation of the budget numbers and how or why you calculated those numbers.  Production Requirements Each unit produced requires the following materials, labor, and overhead, all of which is variable.  Inventories Inventories are listed below.  The beginning inventories are the actual amounts on hand at the beginning of the year.  The ending inventories shown are the amounts that the operations manager has determined to be necessary to ensure smooth production processes. Other information   Fixed manufacturing overhead Fixed manufacturing overhead is 214,000, including 156,000 of non-cash expenditures. Fixed manufacturing overhead is allocated on total units produced. Beginning cash is 1,800,000. Sales are on credit.  Sales are collected 50 percent in the current period and the remainder in the next period.  There are no bad debts.  Sales for the last quarter were 8,400,000.  Purchases for direct materials and labor costs are paid for in the quarter acquired. Manufacturing overhead expenses are paid in the quarter incurred.  Selling and administrative expenses are all fixed and are paid in the quarter incurred. Estimated selling and administrative expenses for the next period are 340,000 per quarter, including 90,000 of depreciation.  REQUIREMENTS: 1.  Prepare a sales budget in good form. 2.  Prepare a narrative report explaining how your sales budget was determined.  Use the table above in your analysis.  (Hint:  Many companies would develop their budgets using average sales and average unit costs.)  Whatever budget determination method you use should be explained.  In your explanation, you should include a discussion of why you believe sales and selling prices fluctuated last year.  3.  Prepare a production budget in units. 4.    Prepare a purchases budget.  Remember that you will need to purchase enough materials to have the required ending inventories shown.  You will also need to purchase enough to manufacture and sell the products on your sales forecast.  Do not forget that you have beginning inventories.  5.  Prepare a narrative report explaining how you prepared the purchases budget.  Be as detailed as necessary to be sure that the president and general manager will understand the calculations and costs. 6.    Prepare a budgeted income statement.  7.  Prepare a contribution margin income statement. 8.  Prepare a narrative report explaining how the expenses on the income statement were determined.  9.  Prepare a cash budget.  Be sure that you show all cash inflows and outflows.  10.  Prepare a narrative report explaining your cash budget process. 11.  If necessary, prepare a capital expenditure budget.  Explain your entries.  Use only the facts in this case to prepare the budget.  Summary: Your finished  case will consist of six or seven budgets (a sales budget, a production budget in units, a purchases budget, a budgeted income statement, a contribution margin income statement, a cash budget, and, if necessary, a capital expenditure budget.)  You will also have four or five narrative reports (a sales budget report, a purchases budget report, an income statement report, a cash budget report, and an explanation of your capital budget, if necessary). Narrative reports are reports that are in the form or a white paper that clearly explains the numeric entries on your budgets.  The length of the narrative reports will depend on the particular report.  In general, you should be able to prepare the sales budget report on one or two pages, the purchases budget report on one or two pages, the income statement report on one page, and the cash budget report on one page.  In this case, the capital budget report would be less than one page.  You should not worry if one of your reports is more or less than the recommendation given here—just be sure you cover all of the important points and satisfactorily explain the numeric entries in your budget.  Also, be sure you explain the process of “how” your numbers were determined.  In this regard, it is not necessary or desirable to explain the exact calculations.  Consider your audience and prepare a report that would be suitable for executives making plans and decisions for the upcoming year.    1Harvey’s budget is adapted from a published case.  (Source and citation are available upon request to faculty only).  MBAi 6691 Date Scored Student: Case Grading Rubric Criteria for Case Meets Expectations Partially Meets Expectations Fails to Meet Expectations Comments/Score Content Analysis (worth 40% of the case grade) Analysis addresses all aspects of case in sufficient depth. Analysis addresses most aspects of case in sufficient depth. Analysis does not address most aspects of case and/or fails to do so in sufficient depth. Content Solution (worth 40% of the case grade) Described solution demonstrates an understanding and correct use of problem solving skills Described solution demonstrates a sufficient level of problem solving abilities but fails to address correctly as aspects of the case. Described solution does not demonstrate an acceptable level of problem solving abilities and the ability to use case information correctly. Presentation Style (worth 20% of the case grade) No significant errors in presentation style, consistent with case requirements and consistent with business standards Errors in presentation style, compliance with case requirements, and normal business standards The presentation was limited, demonstrated a minimal effort to meet case requirements and present your solution in an acceptable business style. Late Submission - 10% per day regardless of the reason for the late submission. Total Points

Project Scenario:You have been asked to develop a pizza ordering application. Here is the information your manager just shared with you about this software development project.The pizza ordering application allows customers with a web browser to order pizza for home delivery. To place an order, a customer would search to find items to purchase (specialty pizzas, sodas, desserts, salads, etc.), and then add items one at a time to a shopping cart. They could also view a page that showed the daily special. The customer could search again for more items if they wanted. They would also have the option to build their own pizza with as many toppings as they liked. When all items were chosen, the customer would see the cost of their order, and also be prompted to provide a delivery address for that specific order. If not paying with cash, the customer would provide credit or debit card information for use on the current order. The system should have an option for customers to register with the pizza shop. They could then save their name, address information and e-mail address, so that they wouldn’t have to enter this information every time they placed an order. If they didn’t want to save their personal details on the site, they could register their e-mail address only, which would let them receive coupons and updates on special promotions.To complete this assignment, make assumptions as needed--just be sure to document any assumptions you make.Milestone #1 (75 points):1.Identify the following information about the pizza ordering application:a.Purpose or goal of the systemb.Primary user(s) of the system2.Assume the role of the customer. Identify 10 user requirements in user story format “As a (role), I want (feature), so that I can (justification/benefit).”3.Identify 5 functional requirements and 2 or more non-functional requirements using the “shall” format from Chapter 4.4.Identify 5 use case scenarios and create a simple use case UML diagram for each.Milestone #2 (50 points):i.Complete a UML activity diagram that provides a high level overview of the major processes that characterize the pizza ordering application.ii.Assume a Test Driven Development approach. Identify 5 or more failing tests and what you would do to make them pass. These tests will form the basis of your unit testing strategy.iii.Identify whether a plan-driven “waterfall” software development approach or an agile framework or methodology might be more suitable for this software development project. Justify your recommendation.Milestone #3 (50 points):1.Identify the evolution and maintenance related items that should be considered when planning to develop the pizza ordering software application.2.Identify ten or more risks that could develop with this project. What is the probability or likelihood that each risk might occur, and what would be the effect to your pizza ordering application if it did? What is your plan to either avoid, minimize or recover from (i.e., contingency plan) each of these risks if they were to occur?  Present your risk analysis as a Risk Register in a tabular format, with the highest impacts/effects listed first.3.Project Planning Assignments:a.Plan-driven “waterfall” planning approach assignment: Use the 10 user story requirements from Milestone #1 for this assignment. For each user story, identify the effort in person-days and duration of each deliverable. If one user story is dependent on another, identify that relationship.b.Agile SCRUM planning approach assignment: Use the 10 user story requirements from Milestone #1 for this assignment. Assuming a 2-week sprint cycle or iteration, identify how many sprints this software development project will take to complete. Identify which user stories will be completed within each sprint and what considerations went into your sizing decision.i.Be sure to rank the user stories from highest to lowest priority.ii.Be sure the most important user stories are completed before the least important user stories.

Quantitative Research Designs—Part 2Reflect on the following scenarios:Wanda has been involved in a research study of the causes of tooth decay in elementary school children. Twenty-five percent of the students in the free breakfast program at a local school have been screened by a local dental hygienist. The dental hygienist finds an average of 3.5 cavities per student. The same dental hygienist recently screened 25% of the students in a school with no free breakfast program, and found an average of only 1.5 cavities per student. Wanda concludes that the breakfast served to students is the cause of higher tooth decay. Do you agree with Wanda? Can you think of other causes for the higher number of cavities among the students from the school with free breakfast?Jerry is conducting a phone survey to determine public opinions on Medicaid reform. In order to get a random sample, Jerry decides to call the tenth number on the second column of every fifth page of the phone book. He also decides to stop sampling when he has completed 50 surveys. After reaching the target number, Jerry begins to analyze the data he has gathered and is surprised to find that opposition to reform is running about 18% higher than the national average. He is at a quandary to explain this significant difference in numbers. What are some reasons you can think of for the higher rate of opposition?As you consider these scenarios, you may note issues or problems related to the validity of the research and conclusions. This week, you assess validity in quantitative research. You are introduced to the different types of validity and why they are important to consider when evaluating evidence and research studies. You also examine common threats to validity and consider how to minimize those threats.Learning ObjectivesStudents will:Evaluate the internal validity of quantitative research studiesAssess the consequences of failing to analyze validity in quantitative research studiesPhoto Credit: [Graphs and charts]/[E+]/Getty ImagesLearning ResourcesNote: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.Required ReadingsPolit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2017). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (10th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.Chapter 10, “Rigor and Validity in Quantitative Research”This chapter introduces the concept of validity in research and describes the different types of validity that must be addressed. Key threats to validity are also explored.Chapter 11, “Specific Types of Quantitative Research”This chapter focuses on the specific types of quantitative research that can be selected. The focus is on the purpose of the research rather than the research design. These include such approaches as clinical trials, evaluation research, health services and outcomes research, needs assessments, or replication studies. Cantrell, M. A. (2011). Demystifying the research process: Understanding a descriptive comparative research design. Pediatric Nursing, 37(4), 188–189.Retrieved from the Walden Library databases. The author of this article discusses the primary aspects of a prominent quantitative research design. The article examines the advantages and disadvantages of the design.Schultz, L. E., Rivers, K. O., & Ratusnik, D. L. (2008). The role of external validity in evidence-based practice for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation Psychology, 53(3), 294–302.Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.This article details the results of a study that sought to balance concern for rigor with concern for relevance. The authors of the article derive and determine a rating format for relevance and apply it to cognitive rehabilitation.Note: For the assignment this week, you will need to read the method section of one of the following quasi-experimental studies. Refer to the details provided in the Week 6 Discussion area.Metheny, N. A., Davis-Jackson, J., & Stewart, B. J. (2010). Effectiveness of an aspiration risk-reduction protocol. Nursing Research, 59(1), 18–25.Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.Padula, C. A., Hughes, C., & Baumhover, L. (2009). Impact of a nurse-driven mobility protocol on functional decline in hospitalized older adults. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 24(4), 325–331.Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.Yuan, S.-C., Chou, M.-C., Hwu, L.-J., Chang, Y.-O., Hsu, W.-H., & Kuo, H.-W. (2009). An intervention program to promote health-related physical fitness in nurses. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 18(10), 1,404–1,411.Walden University. (n.d.a.). Paper templates. Retrieved July 23, 2012, from http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/57.htm This resource provides you access to the School of Nursing Sample Paper, which will serve as a template for formatting your papers. Discussion: Validity in Quantitative Research DesignsValidity in research refers to the extent researchers can be confident that the cause and effect they identify in their research are in fact causal relationships. If there is low validity in a study, it usually means that the research design is flawed and the results will be of little or no value. Four different aspects of validity should be considered when reviewing a research design: statistical conclusion validity, internal validity, construct validity, and external validity. In this Discussion, you consider the importance of each of these aspects in judging the validity of quantitative research.To prepare:Review the information in Chapter 10 of the course text on rigor and validity.Read the method section of one of the following quasi-experimental studies (also located in this week’s Learning Resources). Identify at least one potential concern that could be raised about the study’s internal validity.Metheny, N. A., Davis-Jackson, J., & Stewart, B. J. (2010). Effectiveness of an aspiration risk-reduction protocol. Nursing Research, 59(1), 18–25.Padula, C. A., Hughes, C., & Baumhover, L. (2009). Impact of a nurse-driven mobility protocol on functional decline in hospitalized older adults. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 24(4), 325–331.Yuan, S., Chou, M., Hwu, L., Chang, Y., Hsu, W., & Kuo, H. (2009). An intervention program to promote health-related physical fitness in nurses. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 18(10), 1,404–1,411.Consider strategies that could be used to strengthen the study’s internal validity and how this would impact the three other types of validity.Think about the consequences of an advanced practice nurse neglecting to consider the validity of a research study when reviewing the research for potential use in developing an evidence-based practice. ASSIGNMENT 1: WRITE the title of the study that you selected and your analysis of the potential concerns that could be raised about the study’s internal validity. Propose recommendations to strengthen the internal validity and assess the effect your changes could have with regard to the other three types of validity. Discuss the dangers of failing to consider the validity of a research study.ASSIGNMENT 2: CRITIQUING QUANTITATIVE, QUALITATIVE OR MIXED METHODS STUDIESCritiquing the validity and robustness of research featured in journal articles provides a critical foundation for engaging in evidence-based practice. In Weeks 5 and 6, you explored quantitative research designs. In Week 7, you will examine qualitative and mixed methods research designs. For this Assignment, which is due by Day 7 of Week 7, you critique a quantitative and either a qualitative or a mixed methods research study and compare the types of information obtained in each.To prepare:Select a health topic of interest to you that is relevant to your current area of practice. The topic may be your Course Portfolio Project or a different topic of your choice.Using the Walden Library, locate two articles in scholarly journals that deal with your portfolio topic: 1) Select one article that utilizes a quantitative research design and 2) select a second article that utilizes either a qualitative OR a mixed methods design. These need to be single studies not systematic or integrative reviews (including meta-analysis and metasynthesis). You may use research articles from your reference list. If you cannot find these two types of research on your portfolio topic, you may choose another topic.Locate the following documents in this week’s Learning Resources to access the appropriate templates, which will guide your critique of each article:Critique Template for a Qualitative StudyCritique Template for a Quantitative StudyCritique Template for a Mixed-Methods StudyConsider the fields in the templates as you review the information in each article. Begin to draft a paper in which you analyze the two research approaches as indicated below. Reflect on the overall value of both quantitative and qualitative research. If someone were to say to you, “Qualitative research is not real science,” how would you respond?To complete this Assignment:Complete the two critiques using the appropriate templates.Write a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses the following:Contrast the types of information that you gained from examining the two different research approaches in the articles that you selected.Describe the general advantages and disadvantages of the two research approaches featured in the articles. Use examples from the articles for support.Formulate a response to the claim that qualitative research is not real science. Highlight the general insights that both quantitative and qualitative studies can provide to researchers. Support your response with references to the Learning Resources and other credible sources.As you complete this Assignment, remember to:Submit your paper to Grammarly and SafeAssign through the Walden Writing Center. Based on the Grammarly and SafeAssign reports, revise your paper as necessary.Reminder: The School of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references.