At some point, everyone will have to deliver bad news. the bad feelings associated with this type of message can be alleviated if the receiver knows the reason for the bad news, feels the news is revealed sensitively, thinks the matter is treated seriously, and believes that the decision is fair. when applying these strategies, make sure to follow the writing process and determine whether to use a direct or an indirect pattern in your message. determine what strategy should be used in the following situation. you are going to deliver your product 24 hours late this month.

Maker-bot corporation has 10,000 shares of 10%, $90 par value, cumulative preferred stock outstanding since its inception. no dividends were declared in the first two years. if the company pays $400,000 of dividends in the third year, how much will common stockholders receive?

Who is better at multi-tasking? in business, employees are often asked to perform a complex task when their atten-tion is divided (i.e., multi-tasking). human factors (may 2014) published a study designed to determine whether video game players are better than non–video game play-ers at multi-tasking. each in a sample of 60 college stu-dents was classified as a video game player or a non-player. participants entered a street crossing simulator and were asked to cross a busy street at an unsigned intersec-tion. the simulator was designed to have cars traveling at various high rates of speed in both directions. during the crossing, the students also performed a memory task as a distraction. two variables were measured for each student: (1) a street crossing performance score (measured out of 100 points) and (2) a memory task score (measured out of 20 points). the researchers found no differences in either the street crossing performance or memory task score of video game players and non-gamers. “these results,” say the researchers, “suggest that action video game players [and non-gamers] are equally susceptible to the costs of dividing attention in a complex task”

Harwood company uses a job-order costing system that applies overhead cost to jobs on the basis of machine-hours. the company's predetermined overhead rate of $2.50 per machine-hour was based on a cost formula that estimates $240,000 of total manufacturing overhead for an estimated activity level of 96,000 machine-hours. required: 1. assume that during the year the company works only 91,000 machine-hours and incurs the following costs in the manufacturing overhead and work in process accounts: compute the amount of overhead cost that would be applied to work in process for the year and make the entry in your t-accounts. 2a. compute the amount of underapplied or overapplied overhead for the year and show the balance in your manufacturing overhead t-account. 2b. prepare a journal entry to close the company's underapplied or overapplied overhead to cost of goods sold.