Accounting Methods for LeadersIntroductionThis portfolio work project will help you to not only better understand commonly used accounting tools, but it will also give you the opportunity to use your skills and experience by preparing training materials to train someone else. ScenarioYou work for an organization that is seeking growth and recently has hired new district managers to assist in this growth. In talking to other regional managers, you have heard that some district managers do not have a thorough understanding of commonly used accounting tools including an income statement and balance sheet. You have a new district manager hire, John, and see the need to do some training with him so he has a solid understanding of income statements, balance sheets, and the elements that go into them including advertising costs, Web development costs, and store opening costs.In preparing to train your new hire, you have determined that the use of examples (a picture is worth a thousand words) can be a great approach to use. So, you have decided to gather some examples from the company’s summary of significant accounting policies from its latest financial statements.You may apply this scenario to either Option 1 or Option 2, described in Requirements below.Your RoleYou are a regional manager for Urban Outfitters or your selected organization and oversee a number of districts. You have recently brought a new district manager on board and want to ensure he has the knowledge and tools needed to effectively do his job.RequirementsOption 1:The organization you work for is Urban Outfitters. Use the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission site linked in Resources to find the Urban Outfitter’s 2016–2017 financial statement’s summary of significant accounting policies. Look at the data for 2015, 2016, and 2017 for the following examples of essential elements you need to cover with John and ensure his understanding.Advertising. Examine the criteria used to expense and capitalize advertising costs and where these costs appear in the financial statement.Store opening costs. Examine how store opening and organization costs were handled and where these costs appear in the financial statement.Website development costs. Examine the approaches taken during the application and infrastructure development stage and the planning and operating stage.Option 2:Use a firm or scenario of your choosing.Before choosing a company, read the assignment thoroughly to ensure:The company fits the assignment requirements.You have access to the financial statement’s summary of significant accounting policies and the Note disclosures from which you are drawing your materials. Include this information in the appendix for instructor reference.You can distribute the data without disclosing confidential company information.Contact your instructor with questions.Training MaterialsAs you prepare your training materials for John, use the examples you collected from the company’s Notes to financial documents to illustrate how you address the following items:Explain how one or more of the following costs are captured:Advertising.Store opening. If store opening costs were capitalized, over what time period would you amortize them? Explain why you selected this time period.Website development.Analyze the importance of Notes to financial statements in interpreting financial statements.Explain how the accounting method the company uses affects the financial statements.Explain how the financial statements would differ if another method were used to capture the costs.If you have a preference for capitalizing or expensing these costs, explain why it is your preference.Deliverable FormatLeadership has asked that you develop either a training deck or a training manual that you will use with John and that can be deployed with other new hires as well. Regardless of the format selected, the information should address the points identified above and with detailed explanations within the notes areas of slides or within the training manual text. It will also be helpful to include information in regard to why each item is important to the organization as well as the success of the new district manager.To use your time and John’s time wisely, be conscientious about providing thorough yet concise information. These materials are expected to be used by others for future training needs, so make sure they are well organized and clear.Training materials requirements:12–15 slides for a training deck. Include additional details as slide notes.3–4 pages for a training manual.Related company standards for either format:The training manual is a professional document and should therefore follow the corresponding MBA Academic and Professional Document Guidelines, including single-spaced paragraphs.To learn more about creating presentations, click "MBA Program Resources" and then "Presentation Skills."In addition to the training deck or manual materials, include:Title (slide or page).References (slide or page).Appendix with supporting materials. If you are using a firm or scenario of your choosing, ensure your instructor has sufficient information to understand how you reached your recommendation.At least two APA-formatted references.EvaluationBy successfully completing this assignment, 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 how the accounting method the company used affects the financial statements.Compare how two accounting methods differ in their effects on the financial statements.Competency 4: Communicate financial information with multiple stakeholders.Communicate accounting information clearly.Your course instructor will use the scoring guide to review your deliverable as if they were your immediate supervisor. Review the scoring guide prior to developing and submitting your assignment.ePortfolioThis portfolio work project demonstrates your competency in applying knowledge and skills required of an MBA learner in the workplace. Include this in your personal ePortfolio.Note: Your instructor may also use the Writing Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click the linked resources for helpful writing information.ResourcesTraining—Accounting Tools and Practices Scoring Guide.

tanley Lynch Investment GroupThe Stanley Lynch Investment Group is a large investment firm headquartered in New York. The firm has 12 major investment funds, each with analysts operating in a separate department. Along with knowledge of the financial markets and the businesses it analyzes, Stanley Lynch’s competitive advantage comes from its advanced and reliable computer systems. Thus an effective information technology (IT) division is a strategic necessity, and the company’s chief information officer (CIO) holds a key role at the firm.When the company hired J. T. Kundra as a manager of technology, he learned that the IT division at Stanley Lynch consists of 68 employees, most of whom specialize in serving the needs of a particular fund. The IT employees serving a fund operate as a distinct group, each of them led by a manager who supervises several employees (five employees report to J. T.).He also learned that each group sets up its own computer system to store information about its projects. The problems with that arrangement quickly became evident. As J. T. tried to direct his group’s work, he would ask for documentation of one program or another. Sometimes no one was sure where to find the documentation; it might turn out to be stored in an obscure place such as only on someone’s flash drive. Other times he would quickly get three different responses from three different people with three different versions of the documentation. And if he was interested in another group’s project or a software program used in another department, getting information was next to impossible. He lacked the authority to ask employees in another group to drop what they were doing in order to hunt down information he needed.J. T. concluded that the entire IT division could serve the firm much better if all authorized people had easy access to the work that had already been done and the software that was available. The logical place to store that information was online. From experience at a previous company, he believed that the easiest way to compile the information would be to set up a shared web project called a wiki—an online document created through the collaboration of its users, who can look up or contribute information according to their knowledge and needs. The challenge would be how to get everyone to contribute, given that he had authority over so few of the IT workers.J. T. started by working with his five employees to build a wiki offering basic information presented in a consistent format. Then he met with two higher-level managers who report to the CIO. He showed them the wiki and explained that fast access to information would improve the IT group’s quality and efficiency. He suggested that the managers require all the IT employees to put their documentation on the wiki, and he even persuaded them that this behavior should be measured for performance appraisals. This last tactic was especially significant because at an investment company, bonuses for meeting performance targets are a big part of employees’ compensation.The IT employees quickly came to appreciate that the wiki would help them perform better. When they visited it, they could see from the original information that it would be useful. Adoption of the wiki was swift, and before long, the IT employees came to think of it as one of their most important software systems.Questions:1. Give an example of differentiation in Stanley Lynch’s orga-nization structure and an example of integration in this structure.2. What role did authority play in the adoption of the wiki by the IT division at Stanley Lynch?3. Describe how the IT division used coordination to achieve greater integration. 

CompetenciesEvaluate the reasons business combinations occur and the accounting implications of such transactions.Critique the development of International Accounting Standards and the implications for US corporations.Measure the accounting for foreign currency and its translation.Assess the proper accounting for transactions with respect to deferred taxes and leases using the accounting codification and other accounting research tools.Justify the proper accounting for transactions with respect to accounting changes and error corrections using the accounting codification and other accounting research toolsEvaluate the proper accounting for transactions with respect to interim and segment reporting using the accounting codification and other accounting research tools.ScenarioSwift Cycles is a publicly held, mid-sized manufacturer, with $40 million dollars in annual revenue. Swift has been producing high-end custom cycles currently in the US for the past ten years. Swift has decided to start operations in various locations in Europe in the next five years. In a recent board meeting, the CEO and CFO faced difficult questioning from outside members of the board regarding the impact that adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards might have on the company. Both officers lack a depth of knowledge on the subject and their preparedness for the changes that may be presented.The CFO has asked you as the Controller to do some preliminary research about the possible transition from US GAAP principles to IFRS standards. The company is publicly held; therefore, it must follow all reporting requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).Prepare an analysis and presentation of the impact that adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards would have on the company's financial statements and its investors. Also, prepare an analysis and operational plan of how this adoption may be accomplished by the company.InstructionsAnalysis of Adopting IFRS:Create an executive summary that analyzes the impact that adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards would have on Swift's financial statements and its investors. For your analysis, consider that IFRS will be adopted in their current form. Consider the effects on each of the account groupings (such as foreign currency transactions, deferred taxes, and leases in different countries) for each of the financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, change in equity statement, and statement of cash flows). Explain the implications of consolidating reporting to the parent company versus segment reporting over major areas of the company.Operational Plan:Within the executive summary, write a proposal that provides an operational plan of how this adoption may be accomplished in the company. Consider the following in your Operational Plan:Resources.What policies and procedures should be modified in order meet IFRS requirements?How the project should be managed.What organizational structures, policies, or procedures should be in place to ensure that the implementation is ethical and compliant with all IFRS requirements?Presentation to the Executive Board:For the executive leadership team, create a PowerPoint presentation, 5-10 slides, including slide notes to summarize the essential information regarding the impact of the adoption of IFRS on financial statements and investors of the company, which includes the information from the operational plan. At the end of your executive summary, give your strongest recommendation on the convergence to IFRS.Use the FASB Codification and IFRS to address all technical accounting issues presented in the questions, being certain to reference the applicable sections of the Codification and IFRS in your report.Any other sources used to support your responses should similarly be properly documented. You should have other credible sources in addition to the Codification and IFRS.