You must evaluate the purchase of a proposed spectrometer for the R&D department. The base price is $160,000, and it would cost another $40,000 to modify the equipment for special use by the firm. The equipment falls into the MACRS 3-year class and would be sold after 3 years for $80,000. The applicable depreciation rates are 33%, 45%, 15%, and 7%. The equipment would require a $7,000 increase in net operating working capital (spare parts inventory). The project would have no effect on revenues, but it should save the firm $52,000 per year in before-tax labor costs. The firm's marginal federal-plus-state tax rate is 40%. Required:
a. What is the initial investment outlay for the spectrometer, that is, what is the Year 0 project cash flow?
b. What are the project's annual cash flows in Years 1, 2, and 3?

Acustomer has come to your department with an urgent question. you promised her that you would collect information about her question and answer it by noon. it will take you at least 20 minutes to gather the information needed to provide an answer. it is now 11: 50 a.m. your supervisor just scheduled a 30-minute meeting to start at noon. this meeting is for all employees in your department. you decide to:

An employer who is considering hiring eva has asked donna, eva’s former supervisor, for a report on eva. in truth, eva’s work for donna has been only average. however, eva is donna’s friend, and donna knows that eva probably will not get the job if she says anything negative about eva, and donna knows that eva desperately needs the job. further, donna knows that if the situation were reversed, she would not want eva to mention her deficiencies. nevertheless, it has been donna’s policy to reveal the deficiencies of employees when she has been asked for references by employers, and she knows that some of eva’s faults may be bothersome to this particular employer. finally, this employer has leveled with donna in the past when donna has asked for a report on people who have worked for him. should donna reveal deficiencies in eva’s past performance? (remember to use one of the three moral theories acceptable for this test to solve this dilemma. any discussion of any personal opinion, religious perspective, or theory other than the moral theories acceptable for this test will result in a score of "0" for this question.)

Experienced problem solvers always consider both the value and units of their answer to a problem. why?