Norton Industries, a manufacturer of cable for the heavy construction industry, closes its books and prepares financial statements at the end of each month. The statement of cost of goods sold for April follows: NORTON INDUSTRIES
Statement of Cost of Goods Sold
For the Month Ended April 30
($000 omitted)
Finished goods inventory, March 31 $ 50
Cost of goods manufactured 790
Cost of goods available for sale $ 840
Less: Finished goods inventory, April 30 247
Cost of goods sold $ 593
Additional Information
1. Of the utilities, 80% relates to manufacturing the cable; the remaining 20% relates to the sales and administrative functions. All rent is for the office building.
2. Property taxes are assessed on the manufacturing plant.
3. Of the insurance, 60% is related to manufacturing the cable; the remaining 40% is related to the sales and administrative functions.
4. Depreciation expense includes the following:
Manufacturing plant$20,000
Manufacturing equipment30,000
Office equipment 4,000
$54,000
The company manufactured 7,825 tons of cable during May.
The inventory balances at May 31, follow:
Materials Inventory $23,000
Work-in-Process Inventory $220,000
Finished Goods Inventory $175,000

David burdick is the ceo of acme bubblegum, a successful public company. as one of the cofounders of the company, burdick has enjoyed speaking and writing about the success of acme bubblegum for several years. typically, he speaks at conferences or directly to the press, but recently, he has been blogging about his firm anonymously. specifically, he defended a recent advertising campaign that was unpopular among consumers and pointedly attacked one of acme bubblegum’s competitors. burdick deeply enjoys his anonymous blogging and believes that none of his readers actually know that he works for acme bubblegum.should burdick be allowed to praise his company’s performance anonymously online? should he be allowed to attack his competitors without disclosing his relationship with the company? how would you feel if the ceo of a company at which you shopped was secretly writing criticisms of his or her competition? how would you feel if you knew a writer for your favorite blog was actually closely involved in a company that the blog discussed? 1. define the ethical issue? 2. who are the primary stakeholders? 3. what are the possible alternatives? 4. how could you evaluate the ethical implications of the alternative actions (use appropriate decision rules)? 5. what action would you recommend and why?