• From Case 4, imagine you are the consultant who has to make the recommendation on whether or not to purchase Anheuser-Busch. Determine the rate of return you could expect from your investment and the method you would use to evaluate the investment decision. Assess the disadvantages and advantages of each investment method located in Chapter 4, and choose the one that would provide the most accurate measure for your anticipated rate of return requirement. Justify your recommendation.
• Capital budgeting decisions are among the most important decisions facing business entities. Suggest specific milestones needed to evaluate the performance of capital projects, and suggest some ways to hold managers accountable for spending overruns. Recommend when capital projects should be abandoned due to subsequent cost overruns. Support your position.
• Compare the existing internal control environment at Microsoft to managements responsibility for designing effective internal controls outlined in the textbook, and identify the deficiencies that existed. Speculate on what types of internal controls could have been designed to detect the accounting irregularities, and provide at least two reasons why the internal controls that were in place at Microsoft were not effective in detecting the accounting errors. Provide specific examples.
• Discuss the importance of senior management in setting the tone at the top for honesty and integrity within a company. Identify at least two consequences of management not establishing a code of ethics, and describe the impact on the internal control environment. Provide examples.