CPA\u27s guide to benefit plans for small business

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_guides/1446/thumbnail.jp

Valuation Of The Embedded Option In A Non-Cancelable Lease: Theory And Application

This paper applies a “real” option literature based model to valuing the option element of a non-cancelable lease without an early exercise provision. The model is applied to a common lease type – the closed-end automobile lease. The findings show that the value of the option inherent in an automobile lease is approximately two to six percent of the original asset cost. The analysis discusses ways in which the option value can be captured through the lease contract terms. Management decision makers can use these concepts in evaluating lease/purchase decisions

ECONOMIC SURVIVABILITY OF MISSISSIPPI RICE FARMS: A DETERMINISTIC SIMULATION APPROACH

This study evaluates the economic survivability of rice farms in the Delta area of Mississippi. A general whole-farm simulation model, FLIPSIM V, is used to simulate the operations of representative rice farms over a 10-year period. Although farm size did not change for any of the representative farms considered, the financial structure of these farms changed considerably. Crop mix was found to cause significant differences in the economic growth and financial viability of rice farms in the region.Crop Production/Industries,

The Effect of Repeal of the Capital Gain Preference on Venture-Backed Companies

The 1986 Tax Reform Act eliminated preferential tax treatment of capital gains. Proposals to reinstate the preference suggest that risky new investment will suffer without favorable treatment of investment returns. Others have argued that capital for risky new ventures is largely supplied by tax-exempt institutions, who are expected to be indifferent to the taxation of realized gains. This study evaluates the effects of the repeal of preferential capital gains taxation on venture backed firms. The results show negative abnormal returns for sample firms following the Senate’s vote to repeal the capital gain preference. The returns were more negative for firms with a high debt-to-assets ratio, suggesting a more adverse effect for firms relying on equity finance for future capital needs. Sample firms were expected to be particularly sensitive to the tax change, and the results may not be generalizable to other forms of risky investment

A Note on Taxes and the Capital Structure of Partnerships, REITs, and Related Entities

Jaffe (1991) shows that the value of partnerships and REITs is generally invariant to leverage, although certain tax law provisions can result in an inverse relationship between value and leverage. This paper extends Jaffe's analysis to consider recourse and nonrecourse partnership debt, and special allocations of tax items financed by borrowings. It is shown that the relationship between value and leverage for S Corporations is similar to REITs with one added situation where value is inversely related to leverage. Finally, transaction costs can allow for a positive relationship between partnership leverage and value, a situation not addressed by Jaffe.

Microbial Lag Phase can be Indicative of, or Independent From, Cellular Stress

Measures of microbial growth, used as indicators of cellular stress, are sometimes quantified at a single time-point. In reality, these measurements are compound representations of length of lag, exponential growth-rate, and other factors. Here, we investigate whether length of lag phase can act as a proxy for stress, using a number of model systems (Aspergillus penicillioides; Bacillus subtilis; Escherichia coli; Eurotium amstelodami, E. echinulatum, E. halophilicum, and E. repens; Mrakia frigida; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Xerochrysium xerophilum; Xeromyces bisporus) exposed to mechanistically distinct types of cellular stress including low water activity, other solute-induced stresses, and dehydration-rehydration cycles. Lag phase was neither proportional to germination rate for X. bisporus (FRR3443) in glycerol-supplemented media (r2 = 0.012), nor to exponential growth-rates for other microbes. In some cases, growth-rates varied greatly with stressor concentration even when lag remained constant. By contrast, there were strong correlations for B. subtilis in media supplemented with polyethylene-glycol 6000 or 600 (r2 = 0.925 and 0.961), and for other microbial species. We also analysed data from independent studies of food-spoilage fungi under glycerol stress (Aspergillus aculeatinus and A. sclerotiicarbonarius); mesophilic/psychrotolerant bacteria under diverse, solute-induced stresses (Brochothrix thermosphacta, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus); and fungal enzymes under acid-stress (Terfezia claveryi lipoxygenase and Agaricus bisporus tyrosinase). These datasets also exhibited diversity, with some strong- and moderate correlations between length of lag and exponential growth-rates; and sometimes none. In conclusion, lag phase is not a reliable measure of stress because length of lag and growth-rate inhibition are sometimes highly correlated, and sometimes not at all

“There was something very peculiar about Doc…”: Deciphering Queer Intimacy in Representations of Doc Holliday

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in American Nineteenth-Century History on 8-12-14, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14664658.2014.971481This essay discusses representations of male intimacy in life-writing about consumptive gunfighter John Henry “Doc” Holliday (1851-1887). I argue that twentieth-century commentators rarely appreciated the historical specificity of Holliday’s friendships in a frontier culture that not only normalized but actively celebrated same-sex intimacy. Indeed, Holliday lived on the frayed edges of known nineteenth-century socio-sexual norms, and his interactions with other men were further complicated by his vicious reputation and his disability. His short life and eventful afterlife exposes the gaps in available evidence – and the flaws in our ability to interpret it. Yet something may still be gleaned from the early newspaper accounts of Holliday. Having argued that there is insufficient evidence to justify positioning him within modern categories of hetero/homosexuality, I analyze the language used in pre-1900 descriptions of first-hand encounters with Holliday to illuminate the consumptive gunfighter’s experience of intimacy, if not its meaning