21) For managerial purposes, i.e., making decisions regarding the firm’s operations, the
standard financial statements as prepared by accountants under Generally Accepted
Accounting Principles (GAAP) are often modified and used to create alternative data
and metrics that provide a somewhat different picture of a firm’s operations. Related to
these modifications, which of the following statements is CORRECT?
a.The standard statements make adjustments to reflect the effects of inflation on asset
values, and these adjustments are normally carried into any adjustment that managers
make to the standard statements
b.The standard statements focus on accounting income for the entire corporation, not
cash flows, and the two can be quite different during any given accounting period.
However, for valuation purposes we need to discount cash flows, not accounting
income. Moreover, since many firms have a number of separate divisions, and since
division managers should be compensated on their divisions’ performance, not that of
the entire firm, information that focuses on the divisions is needed. These factors have
led to the development of information that is focused on cash flows and the operations
of individual units
c.The standard statements provide useful information on the firm’s individual operating
units, but management needs more information on the firm’s overall operations than the
standard statements provide
d.The standard statements focus on cash flows, but managers are less concerned with
cash flows than with accounting income as defined by GAAP
e.The best feature of standard statements is that, if they are prepared under GAAP, the
data are always consistent from firm to firm. Thus, under GAAP, there is no room for
accountants to “adjust” the results to make earnings look better
22) Which of the following statements is CORRECT?
a. If a firm has the highest price/earnings ratio of any firm in its industry, then, other
things held constant, this suggests that the board of directors should fire the president
b. If a firm has the highest market/book ratio of any firm in its industry, then, other
things held constant, this suggests that the board of directors should fire the president
c. Other things held constant, the higher a firm’s expected future growth rate, the lower
its P/E ratio is likely to be
d. The higher the market/book ratio, then, other things held constant, the higher one
would expect to find the Market Value Added (MVA)
e. If a firm has a history of high Economic Value Added (EVA) numbers each year, and
if investors expect this situation to continue, then its market/book ratio and MVA are
both likely to be below average