Case summary: A person JS is the CEO of a company RL. The company RL deals in buying life insurance policies at a discount from patients who are on their death bed and sells the same to investors. The terminally ill patients receive payments as a percentage of future death benefits. The investors buy the insurance policies at 85 percentage of the value of future benefits. The patients utilize this money for their treatment, and the investors are entitled to a guaranteed
To find:The actions of the company RL are ethical.
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Chapter 5 Solutions
EBK THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS:
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released its final rule to implement a code of ethics under SOX Title 404. The stock exchanges have proposed that each company listed on the exchanges publish its code of ethics. Discuss how disclosures of a code of ethics by senior management could have a positive effect on public confidence and influence investors' behavior. Discuss the consequences of not establishing a code of ethics. Support your position. Evaluate the importance of senior management in setting the tone for the application of the company's code of ethics and promoting positive employee behavior, improved decision making, or the willingness to report unethical behavior of coworkers. Recommend at least two policies that might encourage employees to report unethical behavior.arrow_forwardCompany A’s interest ratio has fallen below the level required by its lender. The lender may not take which action? Multiple Choice Gain representation on the company’s board of directors. Replace the CEO of the company. Demand repayment of the loan. Veto payment of a dividend.arrow_forwardChad Boudreaux is a 58-year riverboat captain. He grew up in New Orleans and has worked on the Mississippi River his entire life. He works for a private company in New Orleans called Crescent River Pilots Inc. (CRP) and is married to Patricia, who is 35 years old. They have a seven-year-old son, named River. CRP sponsors a 401(k) plan that offers a Roth account and a separate ESOP. Chad has the following retirement plan accounts: Account Description Current FMV Beneficiary ESOP account from CRP – consists of CRP shares. The cost basis for the shares is $75,000. $400,000 Patricia 401 (k) Plan From CRP Inc. $800,000 Patricia 401 (k) Plan from Schlumberger, where he worked in his thirties $90,000 Patricia Roth IRA (established in 2000 with a $2000 initial contribution; three years ago he rolled over a traditional IRA with a balance of $10,000 $45,000 Patricia Traditional IRA (established twenty years ago with $15,000 of after-tax contributions)…arrow_forward
- Several months ago, Amanda Potter became a trustee of Breakthrough, a UK charity that supports educational and cultural initiatives for underprivileged children. Potter was invited to join the board of trustees by the board chairman, a long-time friend. In the time since her appointment, Potter has begun to learn about the activities of the charity; however, there are still aspects of operations and funding about which she is not altogether clear. There is some disagreement between trustees about whether the main area of activity for the charity should be educational or whether it should focus more on cultural activities. The board of trustees has met only twice since her appointment, and Potter now understands that many of the policy decisions are made by the chief executive of the organisation and his small management team. Since her appointment, Potter feels that she has done very little as a trustee. She is also annoyed that she has twice been asked to find individuals or companies…arrow_forward6-11. Assume that an automotive company discloses the following risk factors, listed as (1) through (7), that might affect the specific assertion of primary concern to the financial statements. Continued decline in market share, and a market shift (or an increase in acceleration of market shift) away from sales of trucks or sport utility vehicles, or from sales of other more profitable vehicles in the U.S. Continued or increased price competition resulting from industry overcapacity, currency fluctuations, or other factors. Lower than anticipated market acceptance of new or existing products. Substantial pension and postretirement health care and life insurance liabilities impairing our liquidity or financial condition. Worse than assumed economic and demographic experience for our postretirement benefit plans (e.g., discount rates, investment returns, and health care cost trends). The discovery of defects in vehicles resulting in delays in a new model launches, recall campaigns, or…arrow_forwardRead and analyze the following situation.Bernard J. Ebbers, chief executive officer and founder of the telecommunications giant, WorldCom, owed the corporation $375 million for a loan secured by shares he owned in the company. The value of the company's stock was declining, to the point that the value of its shares was less than the amount of the loan. On February 2, 2002, Mr. Ebbers engaged in a series of communications with leading Wall Street stock analysts, whose opinions helped drive up the stock price, to refute negative news about the company's financial condition. , which was frightening investors. That day, the company's shares increased by 12% in value. Four months later, the company filed for bankruptcy protection due to its precarious economic condition. Answer the following questions:Are the actions mentioned above illegal? Are they unethical? Support and explain your answer. What is the difference between an illegal action and an unethical one? Support and explain your…arrow_forward
- Princess was appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TSF Food Products Trading and Manufacturing Corporation due to the death of her father. Their company is open to public and had to adapt to being transparent to outside investors. There were pressures from the shareholders to reduce operating cost of the business in order to increase profits. In response to their request, Princess implemented cost cutting measures by means of imposing early retirement of employees who she felt could no longer cope up with the work so to decrease the digitize operation of the business. As expected, most of the employees were not happy upon knowing the situation and this affected the morale of their employees. Princess sought the assistance of Mark, the company’s HR manager. Mark suggested a comprehensive program wherein all employees would be evaluated based on achieving results by means of demonstrating to their employees that their performance affects company’s status. Those…arrow_forwardAs a risk advisory consultant, you are asked to evaluate and recommend improvements for the employee onboarding process for Swiftly Tech. During your evaluation you discover that Swiftly Tech's employee data was part of a data breach from a third-party background check provider. What action do you recommend that Swiftly Tech take? Swiftly Tech should require employees to acquire and provide their own background check data. Swiftly Tech should forgo background checks to avoid sharing confidential employee data with other companies. Swiftly Tech should require background check providers to have their own internal controls to ensure confidentiality and security of data. All of these answer choices are correct.arrow_forwardThe shareholders of Escalante company are suing the external auditors of the company. The shareholders are upset because the management of Escalante company produced overly positive financial statements and used these financial statements to lure new investors. Escalante company is now bankrupt, the managers are facing prison time, and the external auditors are in monetary damages settlement talks with shareholders of Escalante company. What role could the public company accounting oversight board (PCAOB) have played in avoiding this catastrophe?arrow_forward
- You have been asked to mediate disputes between multiple parties. Each individual party has his/her own attorney. The individuals all invested with a reputable investment firm. It turns out, the firm engaged in criminal conduct and the investors were part of a Ponzi scheme. Each individual lost their entire investment with the firm and each has hired a lawyer to recover their investment losses and emotional distress damages. The individual investors are devastated. Many have lost their entire life savings and are in retirement age. Some of the lawyers involved believe the parties should mediate because there are limited assets from which to recover, the cost of litigation will be high and the results from litigation more costly than resolving. Other attorneys are not certain mediation is the best option. Discuss the obstacles to a resolution that could potentially exist in this situation.arrow_forwardA CEO has placed you in charge of a new investment opportunity to borrow $5 billion dollars to create a new subsidiary of MCI called MillerCare Insurance. Estimates indicate that in seven years, MillerCare Insurance and its assets will be valued at $8 billion. The best offer for the loan sits at 12 percent. Mr. Miller instructed you to provide guidance to the new insurance firm, if indeed you decide to accept the loan package. How might you advise the top management of the insurance firm in regard to: How the Law of Diminishing Returns impacts the insurance market The dangers of Moral hazard Adverse selectionarrow_forwardaren Johnson, CFO for Raucous Roasters (RR), a specialty coffee manufacturer, is rethinking her company’s working capital policy considering a recent scare she faced when RR’s corporate banker, citing a nationwide credit crunch, balked at renewing RR’s line of credit. Had the line of credit not been renewed, RR would not have been able to make payroll, potentially forcing the company out of business. Although the line of credit was ultimately renewed, the scare has forced Johnson to examine carefully each component of RR’s working capital to make sure it is needed, with the goal of determining whether the line of credit can be eliminated entirely. In addition to (possibly) freeing RR from the need for a line of credit, Johnson is well aware that reducing working capital can also add value to a company by improving its EVA (Economic Value Added). In her corporate finance course Johnson learned that EVA is calculated by taking net operating profit after taxes (NOPAT) and then subtracting…arrow_forward
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