You are a finance and accounting analyst for Bunscar Company and have been with the firm for

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You are a finance and accounting analyst for Bunscar Company and have been with the firm for five years. Bunscar is a closely held corporation—all of the shares are owned by the founder, Ryan Brown, and by other long-time employees. Bunscar is preparing to issue stock for the first time in an initial public offering (IPO). Of great interest is the initial selling price of the stock because that will determine how much Brown and the others will reap from the sale of their shares. The board of directors has put together an analysis proposing that the initial selling price be set at $15 per share. Because Brown and the other insiders intend to sell 10 million shares, this price will bring them $150 million. The analysis relies heavily on the trend in Bunscar’s earnings, which have grown sharply, particularly in the past year. You have the reputation of possessing the best presentation skills in the company. The board of directors has asked you to present the $15-per-share proposal to the investment banking firm that will handle Bunscar’s IPO. This is your big chance. As you review the board’s analysis in preparing your presentation, you notice that no mention is made of Bunscar’s cash flow from operations (CFO). CFO has been fairly steady for the past few years; at the same time, earnings have more than doubled. In the past year, when earnings increased 65%, CFO actually declined slightly. After some investigation, you find that Bunscar has become very loose in its assumptions about when revenue should be recognized. In fact, putting the revenue and cash flow numbers together, you conclude that most of Bunscar’s earnings increase has come from questionable revenue that probably will never be collected in cash. It seems clear to you that Bunscar’s accounting assumptions have been manipulated to make reported income look as good as possible to increase the IPO selling price. Your presentation is scheduled for the day after tomorrow. What should you do?

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Intermediate Accounting

ISBN: 978-0324592375

17th Edition

Authors: James D. Stice, Earl K. Stice, Fred Skousen

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