Analysts examine the quality of the balance sheet of a company. Consider the following cases of Company A and Company B. Company A's assets on the balance sheet have a market value that is almost equal to their reported book value. Company B's assets-as reported on the balance sheet-have a market value that is much lower than their reported book value. Which company has a higher-quality balance sheet? Company B Company A Consider the following example of a business practice used by wizard Company to manage the appearance of it earnings in its income statement: Wizard Company bought out one of its smaller competitors last year and recognized $5 million in goodwill from the acquisition. Wizard's earnings this year were not good and its forecast for next year is not much better. Because the acquisition did not add much value, wizard took a $4 million write-off to goodwill and reported poor earnings for the year, and blamed the performance on an unsuccessful acquisition. Based on the information given to you, which of the earnings management (or manipulation) practices applies to Wizard Company in this example? Timing acquisitions to spread their expenses over a range of time Taking write-offs against increased reserves in good times Taking a "big-bath" write-off to excuse and manage bad earnings performance