Case Project W2023

pdf

School

York University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

3595

Subject

Computer Science

Date

Dec 6, 2023

Type

pdf

Pages

4

Uploaded by DukeSnowWaterBuffalo36

Report
ADMS3585 Winter 2023 Case Project Instructors: Ben Kim and Alla Volodina International Computer Systems (ICS) manufactures and distributes specialized point-of-sale systems, including hardware and software. Jay Jayson founded ICS as a ‘small’ garage operation in 2013. Jay was able to get ahead of the competition by writing application software especially suites to the customer’s needs. Jay’s primary market were smaller retailers. ICS’s operations expanded quickly with Jay continuing to serve as CEO. ICS’s rapid expansion was due to its ability to produce low cost specialized machines and custom software using the latest technology. Unlike larger companies, ICS was willing to work with smaller retailers and provide custom solutions as much as possible. Furthermore, ICS sold directly to the consumer, avoiding distribution costs and allowing it to stay in close touch with its customers’ needs. ICS also prides itself on always implementing the latest technology into its products (this is especially important when considering ICS’ smaller competitors) As ICS grew, the company began to hire not only full-time staff but also independent software programmers who produce customer software for ICS customers. Over the past couple of years, competition has become very intense, with numerous low cost producers, similar to ICS, entering and leaving the market. In addition, retailers have significantly decreased their budgets for capital investments, i.e. such as point-of-sale systems due to the pandemic and significant sale decreases for some retailers. During the pandemic, ICS entered into a loan agreement with its major lender, Canadian Finance (CF) which is a financing company that lends heavily into growing businesses. CF’s original loan was $10million and it was increased to $11 million in 2021, and in 2022 to $12 million. During 2022, ICS was late in making its interest payments to CF on several occasions. According to ICS, the cash problems causing the delays were only temporary. Interest payments are currently up to date and were up to date at the company’s December 31, 2022 year-end. Given that ICS was late on their payments, CF can exercise the right to review CF’s financial statements and company records. CF has placed a debt-to-equity and current ratio covenants and they are concerned that they might be in breach. CF made a decision to exercise this right. It is now March 2023 and CF has hired your firm, KleinLLP, to review the information gathered and provide an analysis regarding financial accounting issues. ICS will follow your advice when finalizing its financial statements before presenting them to CF. ICS follows IFRS. Inventory management and order fulfillment Parts that are necessary for building the point-of-sale hardware are purchased by ICS in
advance and are stored on premises. At the end of 2021, ICS became aware of supply shortages and purchased a significant supply of parts to ensure that there is no impact on operations. ICS received the parts and did not examine them until late 2022 when it discovered that the parts that were sent were not the latest technology model as ICS requested. Instead, the parts that were delivered were of the ‘last generation’. Jay also wanted to provide a full suite of products and services to clients. One of the company’s competitive advantage is that if a client was interested in a specific product (e.g. a special keyboard) and ICS did not manufacture that keyboard, Jay would simply order the product from a no-name manufacturer and sell the product at a margin. ICS would only order this inventory when requested by a specific customer and would not normally carry this inventory on hand. Sales and business development In an effort to expand its market, ICS began to identify companies that required custom made systems. These companies often had relatively old and inefficient information systems, yet they were unwilling to invest in new system due to a lack of sufficient resources. To gain market share, ICS actively pursued sales in this market. Customers in this category would be requested to put a deposit of 20% for the hardware/software purchased and the rest of the payment is due over 4 years. Revenue from maintenance contracts is recognized when amounts are due according to the contract. Full commission expense related to the sale of maintenance contracts is recorded when it’s paid out (i.e. shortly after a contact is signed). Property and Equipment ICS invested excess cash in raw land in 2021. ICS constructed its manufacturing plant, research centre and administrative office on a portion of this land. The remaining land will be sold when market value increases further. As a general policy, property taxes and interest relating to vacant land are capitalized as part of the cost of the land. During fiscal 2022, $300,000 was capitalized to land. Amortization for building and equipment uses rates and methods of amortization consistent with those permitted by taxing authorities. Product development All costs relating to the development of new products are capitalized if it is expected that such costs will be recovered. ICS’s average development period for a product under development is three years. As per discussions with management, ICS should receive the following revenues and profits once the projects are completed and brough to market
Project s report ed on the balance sheet Estimat ed Sales (in thousands) Costs incurred to date (in thousands) Cash required to complete (in thousands) Production and sale date(fiscal year) A1150 $ 13,500 $ 5,480 $ 1,650 2026 B3400 $ 7,900 $ 3,150 $ 1,080 2027 C1000 $ 6,130 $ 2,000 $ 120 2023 D510 $ 3,200 $ 1,300 $ 1,950 2025 G620 $ 8,160 $ 3,450 $ 840 2025 T110 $ 19,040 $ 7,350 $ 1,100 2022 T990 $ 15,100 $ 6,000 $ 1,350 2023 V300 $ 4,386 $ 1,100 $ 1,200 2024 X100 $ 8,630 $ 3,800 $ 140 2022 ICS is in talks with various firms to sell project A1150 and B3400. ICS wants to dispose of these projects as it currently does not have the necessary resources to develop these projects further and would like to concentrate on the more profitable projects. All developer salaries and contract payments are capitalized as part of development costs. Investments In November 2022, ICS purchased some assets off a company that was closing its operations. Berta could not resist the great purchase price of $800,000 for a complete set of office equipment, inventory of computer parts that ICS could also use in its manufacturing process and a patent. However, Jay admits that it was really the patent that he was most interested in. Jay estimates that, if purchased separately, the equipment alone would cost between $500,000-$600,000 and the one-month’s worth of inventory between $200,000-$300,000. In fiscal 2019, MPS acquired 100,000 of common shares of Music Power Shop Inc (MPS), a private company. MPS was not doing well and Jay decided to invest $1,000,000 of ICS’s funds into the business. MPS is not widely held and ICS’ investment constituted 17%. The business is
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
  • Access to all documents
  • Unlimited textbook solutions
  • 24/7 expert homework help
still in a net loss position and it might take a long time for it to recover. While Jay does not contribute to any decision-making processes at all, Jay has been discussing with MPS possible integration of MPS products into ICS computers for free which would give MPS product a wider exposure. Jay believes that it is indeed the right way to go and MPS is also on board and the parties are in the final stages of preparation. Other You’ve spent several days on the premises of ICS gathering information and one day you overhear a conversation between two developers in which one developer brags to another developer how he was able to bill 10 hours of work to ICS while he also spent 2 hours as he copied the code that he wrote for another client prior to being contracted out to ICS. Your understanding was that all code is being written from scratch as ICS’ software is unique.