8-7

Prepare a research report on the impact of technology on auditing in such areas as (but not limited to) comprehensiveness, risk assessment, and data analytics. Assume your report will be distributed to all auditing staff in your firm.

8-8

You prepare a research report on the use of GPK (GRENZPLANKOSTENRECHNUNG) and ABC (activity-based costing) cost systems. Discuss some actual experiences of companies as well as some advantages and disadvantages of using each system. Assume your report will be made available to your manufacturing clients.

8-9

You are a member of the tax department of a sizeable pharmaceutical company, Ansley pharmaceuticals, which is considering a merger with a smaller company in Germany. The president of your company, George Matterhorn, wants to engineer the terms of the prospective merger to maximize its potential favorable effects on US taxes. He has heard that by constructing the merger as a corporate inversion and establishing the merged companies tax address in Germany, he may be able to achieve objective.

Mr. Matterhorn has asked you to prepare a technical memo discussing corporate inversions. Your memo should cover these topics:

• definition and explanation of a corporate inversion
• tax effects of corporate conversion: benefits and risks