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The purpose of this assignment is to apply principles and skills associated with investing and operating activities

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The purpose of this assignment is to apply principles and skills associated with investing and operating activities.

Using what you have learned from the topic materials, complete the following problems and cases from the textbook.

1. Problems and Cases 8.21
2. Integrative Case 8.1
3. Problems and Cases 9.14
4. Problems and Cases 9.20

Prepare the assignment in Excel with each problem or case as a separate tab. All narrative questions should be fully addressed within the Excel document on the tab associated with the problem or case.

APA style is not required, but solid academic writing is expected.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are not required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite.

INTEGRATIVE CASE 8.1 
Walmart 
Walmart makes significant investments in operating capacity, primarily via investments in prop-erty, plant, and equipment, but also via investments in wholly and partially owned subsidiaries. Walmart also has significant non-U.S. operations in its Walmart International segment. The Chapter 8 online appendix provides Walmart's January 31, 2016, Consolidated Financial State-ments and accompanying notes, which describe these significant investments. 
REQUIRED a. Estimate the average total estimated useful life of depreciable property, plant, and equip-ment. Does the estimate reconcile with stated accounting policy on useful lives for prop-erty, plant, and equipment? Explain. b. How should an analyst interpret fluctuations in this estimate for a given company over time? How should an analyst interpret differences in this estimate between a company and its competitors? c. Estimate the average age of depreciable assets, the percentage of PP&E that has been used up, and the remaining useful life. How might an analyst use this information? d. Has Walmart recognized impairment of property, plant, and equipment or goodwill dur-ing the fiscal year ending January 31, 2016? Why is it important for the analyst to know the answer to this question? e. Under U.S. GAAP, the impairment tests for goodwill and PP&E are different. Describe the main difference. f. Walmart must consolidate subsidiaries that are partially owned. Evidence of this fact can be found in the income statement, the balance sheet, and the statement of cash flows, where noncontrolling interests in net income, noncontrolling interest in net assets, and cash flows related to noncontrolling interests are referenced. Explain the meaning of the noncontrolling interest in net income and the noncontrolling interest in net assets. g. Generally speaking, firms, including firms that are partially owned subsidiaries, pay out only a portion of their net income during a period (i.e., the dividend payout ratio is generally less than one). The January 31, 2016, balance sheet reports a decrease in noncontrolling interest in net assets. Do other statements (and note information) provide evidence as to what might have happened? h. What was the gain or loss from foreign currency translation for the year ended January 31, 2016? Where is it reported, and what is the rationale for reporting it there? i. What happened to foreign exchange rates during the year? 
 

Problems and Cases: 8.21

Variable-Interest Entities. Molson Coors Brewing Company (Molson Coors) is the fifth-largest brewer in the world. It is one of the leading brewers in the United States and Canada; the company's brands include Coors, Molson Canadian, Carling, and Killian's Irish Red. Molson and Adolph Coors Brewing Company merged in early 2005. In the final annual report of Adolph Coors Brewing Company for the year ended December 26, 2004, sales exceeded 32 million barrels (1 U.S. barrel equals 31 gallons). Coors reported 54.3 billion of net sales for 2004. The firm invests in various entities to carry out its brewing, bottling, and canning activities. The investments take the legal form of partnerships, joint ventures, and limited liability corporations, among other arrangements. The firm states in its 2004 annual report, issued under the Molson Coors name, that each of these arrangements has been tested to determine whether it qualifies as a VIE. The following excerpt is taken from the firm's note on VIEs in its 2004 annual report: Note 3. Variable-Interest Entities. Once an entity is determined to be a VIE, the party with the controlling financial interest, the primary beneficiary, is required to consolidate it. We have investments in VIEs, of which we are the primary beneficiary. Accordingly, we have consolidated three joint ventures in 2004, effective December 29, 2003, the first day of 2004. These include Rocky Mountain Metal Container (RMMC), Rocky Mountain Bottle Company (RMBC) and Grolsch (UK) Limited (Grolsch). The impacts to our balance sheet include the addition of net fixed assets of RMMC and RMBC totaling approximately $65 million, RMMC debt of approximately $40 million, and Grolsch net intangibles of approximately $20 million (at current exchange rates). The most significant impact to our cash flow statement for the year ended December 26, 2004, was to increase depreciation expense by approximately $13.2 million and cash recognized on initial consolidation of the entities of $20.8 million. Our partners' share of the operating results of the ventures is eliminated in the minority interests line of the Consolidated Statements of Income. 
Molson Coors also provides additional information in its annual report on each of the con-solidated joint ventures, as follows: 1. RMBC is a joint venture with Owens-Brockway Glass Container, Inc., in which we hold a 50% interest. RMBC produces glass bottles at a glass-manufacturing facility for use at the Golden, Colorado brewery. Under this agreement, RMBC supplies our bottle requirements and Owens-Brockway has a contract to supply the majority of our bottle requirements not met by RMBC. In 2003 and 2002, the firm's share of pretax joint venture profits for the ven-ture, totaling $7.8 million and $13.2 million, respectively, was included in cost of goods sold on the consolidated income statement. 
2. RMMC, a Colorado limited liability company, is a joint venture with Ball Corporation in which we hold a SO% interest. RMMC supplies the firm with substantially all of the cans for our Golden, Colorado brewery. RMMC manufactures the cans at our manufacturing facilities, which RMMC operates under a use and license agreement. In 2003 and 2002, the firm's share of pretax joint venture profits (losses), totaling $0.1 million and ($0.6) million, respectively, was included in cost of goods sold on the consolidated income statement. As stated previously, on consolidation of RMMC, debt of approximately $40 million was added to the balance sheet. As of December 26, 2004, Coors is the guarantor of this debt. 3. Grolsch is a joint venture between CBL and Royal Grolsch N.V. in which we hold a 49% interest. The Grolsch joint venture markets Grolsch branded beer in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. The majority of the Grolsch branded beer is produced by CBL under a contract brewing arrangement with the joint venture. CBL and Royal Grolsch N.V. sell beer to the joint venture, which sells the beer back to CBL (for onward sale to customers) for a price equal to what it paid plus a marketing and overhead charge and a profit margin. In 2003 and 2002, the firm's share of pretax profits for this venture, total-ing $3.6 million and $2.0 million, respectively, was included in cost of goods sold on the consolidated income statement. As stated previously, on consolidation, net fixed assets of approximately $4 million and net intangibles of approximately $20 million were added to our balance sheet. 
REQUIRED a. Describe the operational purpose of the three VIEs consolidated by Molson Coors. b. Molson Coors is the primary beneficiary for three investments that the firm identified as VIEs. What criteria did Molson Coors apply to determine that the firm is the primary ben-eficiary for these three investments? c. For each investment, Molson Coors reports the income statement impact as a reduction of cost of goods sold on the consolidated income statement. What is the rationale for reporting the impact this way on the income statement? d. The firm states, "Our partners share of the operating results of the ventures is eliminated in the minority interests line of the Consolidated Statements of Income." Define minority interests as it appears on the income statement. Discuss why Molson Coors subtracts it to calculate consolidated net income. e. RMBC, RMMC, and Grolsch are consolidated with the financial statements of Molson Coors because the three investments qualify as VIEs as defined in Interpretation No. 46 and the firm determined that it is the primary beneficiary for the investments. Explain what reporting technique Molson Coors would use to account for the investments if, in fact, they did not qualify as VIEs. What would be the impact on the balance sheet? What would be the impact on the income statement? What would be the impact on the state-ment of cash flows? f. The firm reports that the depreciation expense on the statement of cash flows for 2004 increased by approximately $13.2 million as a result of consolidating the VIEs. Why did consolidating the VIEs increase depreciation expense? 
 

Problems and Cases 9.14

Income Recognition for Various Types of Businesses. Discuss when each of the following types of businesses is likely to recognize revenues and expenses. a. A bank lends money for home mortgages. b. A travel agency books hotels, transportation, and similar services for customers and earns a commission from the providers of these services. c. A major league baseball team sells season tickets before the season begins and signs its players to multiyear contracts. These contracts typically defer the payment of a significant portion of the compensation provided by the contract until the player retires. d. A producer of fine whiskey ages the whiskey 12 years before sale. e. A timber-growing firm contracts to sell all timber in a particular tract when it reaches 20 years of age. Each year it harvests another tract. The price per board foot of timber equals the market price when the customer signs the purchase contract plus 10% for each year until harvest. f. An airline provides transportation services to customers. Each flight grants frequent-flier miles to customers. Customers earn a free flight when they accumulate sufficient frequent-flier miles. 
 

9.20 LIFO and FIFO Cost-Flow Assumptions for Inventory.

A large manufacturer of truck and car tires recently changed its cost-flow assumption method for invento-ries at the beginning of 2017. The manufacturer has been in operation for almost 40 years, and for the last decade it has reported moderate growth in revenues. The firm changed from the UFO method to the FIFO method and reported the following information (amounts in millions): 
December 31 2016 2017 Inventories at FIFO cost $ 788.1 $ 861.7 Excess of FIFO cost over LIFO cost (429.0) (452.4) Cost of goods sold (FIFO) 4,150.8 Cost of goods sold (LIFO) 4,417.1 
REQUIRED Calculate the inventory turnover ratio for 2017 using the LIFO and FIFO cost-flow assumption methods. Explain why the costs assigned to inventory under LIFO at the end of 2016 and 2017 are so much less than they are under FIFO.