Week 1 – Discussion Forum 1
Required Resources
Text
Block, S. B., Hirt, G. A., & Danielsen, B. R. (2019). Foundations of financial management (17th ed.). Retrieved from https://www.vitalsource.com
• Chapter 1: The Goals and Activities of Financial Management
• Chapter 4: Financial Forecasting
Multimedia
tutor2u. (2016, April 28). Business costs (Fixed costs and variable costs) explained (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/E7qWYu0xJfg
• The video explains the differences between fixed and variable costs and will assist you in your Financial Forecasting assignment this week. This video has closed captioning and a transcript.
Accessibility Statement (Links to an external site.)
Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)
Web Pages
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. (n.d.). EDGAR | Company Filings (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html
• This web page provides financial information about public companies and will assist you in your Financial Forecasting assignment this week.
Accessibility Statement (Links to an external site.)
Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)
Yahoo! Finance. (n.d.). Yahoo! Finance (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://finance.yahoo.com/
• This web page uses algorithms that detect global financial trends and will assist you in your Financial Forecasting assignment this week.
Accessibility Statement (Links to an external site.)
Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)
Recommended Resources
Articles
Cross, M. (2018, April). The power of living within your means. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, 72(4), 25. Retrieved from https://www.kiplinger.com/fronts/archive/magazine/index.html
• The full-text version of this article is available through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. The author discusses why a personal budget is important and gives strategies for sticking to your budget. This article may assist you with your Week 1 Journal this week.
Gerstner, L. (2015, January). How to stretch your money. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, 68(6), 46. Retrieved from https://www.kiplinger.com/fronts/archive/magazine/index.html
• The full-text version of this article is available through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. This article discusses how to prioritize spending and provides useful budgeting apps and tools to make tracking detailed expenses easier. This article may assist you with your Week 1 Journal this week.
Harvard Business Review Staff. (2015, July). The right way to prepare your budget. Harvard Business Review, 2–5. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/
• The full-text version of this article is available through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. This article provides practical information on preparing a corporate budget, as well as information on using budget assumptions. The article may assist you with your Financial Forecasting assignment this week.
Henderson, R. M. (2018, February). More and more CEOs are taking their social responsibility seriously. Harvard Business Review, 2–5. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/
• The full-text version of this article is available through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. This article discusses why corporate social responsibility has become more important. The article says people are “witnessing a big, transitional moment.” The article may assist you with your Personal and Corporate Ethics Debate discussion forum this week.
Rhodes, C. (2018, July). What are corporate social responsibility and ethics and why do businesses care? BusiDate, 26(3), 3–4. Retrieved from https://www.warringalpublications.com.au/product/busidate/
• The full-text version of this article is available through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. This article not only provides a historical view of corporate social responsibility but also a contemporary perspective. The article also provides real-world examples and may assist you with your Personal and Corporate Ethics Debate discussion forum this week.
Thomas, C. W. (2016, September/October). The pros and cons of pro forma financial reporting (Links to an external site.). Today’s CPA, 2016(September/October), 9. Retrieved from https://www.tscpa.org/docs/default-source/communications/today’s-cpa/financial-reporting-today-39-s-cpa-sept-oct-2016.pdf?sfvrsn=2
• This article looks at the pros and cons of pro forma financial statements. This will expand your knowledge on the pro forma statement concept and may assist you in your Financial Forecasting assignment this week.
Accessibility Statement does not exist.
Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)
Multimedia
Jones, R. (Producer). (2015). Changing tides: The future of shipping [Streaming video]. Retrieved from Films On Demand database.
• The full version of this video is available through the Films On Demand database in the Ashford University Library. This video provides a three-minute interview with shipping executives and investors and addresses how corporate social responsibility influences the financial markets in the context of the shipping industry. This video may assist you with your Personal and Corporate Ethics Debate discussion forum this week. This video has closed captioning and a transcript.
Accessibility Statement (Links to an external site.)
Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)
Econo McCall. (2012, May 17). Forecasting financial statements – Part 1.mp4 (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/hRqchLs4mUc
• This video demonstrates how to prepare yearly budgets. The most helpful aspects of the video are the assumptions made by line items, showing how those assumptions translate into the budgeted numbers. This video may assist you with your Financial Forecasting assignment this week. This video has closed captioning and a transcript.
Accessibility Statement (Links to an external site.)
Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)
Forbes. (2016, March 1). Why Starbucks’ billionaire CEO pushes social responsibility | Forbes (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/jj9MX4RPDhw
• This video provides a real-life example of social responsibility from Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks. Schultz discusses a military hiring program that Starbucks implemented a few years back. This video may assist you with your Personal and Corporate Ethics Debate discussion forum this week. This video has closed captioning and a transcript.
Accessibility Statement (Links to an external site.)
Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)
Web Pages
Consumer.gov. (n.d.). Making a budget (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://www.consumer.gov/articles/1002-making-budget#!what-it-is
• This web page contains useful information about creating a personal budget. There are videos, a worksheet, and other information available. This web page may assist you with creating a personal budget for your Week 1 Journal this week.
Accessibility Statement does not exist.
Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)
Washington State Department of Financial Institutions. (n.d.). Budgeting (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://dfi.wa.gov/financial-education/information/budgeting
• This web page outlines how to create a budget and provides worksheets and additional resources about budgets. This web page may assist you with creating a personal budget for your Week 1 Journal this week.
Accessibility Statement (Links to an external site.)
Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)
Websites
BudgetPulse (Links to an external site.). (https://www.budgetpulse.com)
• This website provides a free online personal budgeting tool and may assist you in your Week 1 Journal.
Accessibility Statement does not exist.
Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)
GnuCash (Links to an external site.). (http://www.gnucash.org/)
• This website provides free personal or small-business accounting software and may assist you in your Week 1 Journal.
Accessibility Statement does not exist.
Privacy Policy does not exist.
Intuit: Mint (Links to an external site.). (https://www.mint.com/)
• This website provides access to a free personal finance tool and may assist you in your Week 1 Journal.
Accessibility Statement does not exist.
Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)
You Need A Budget (Links to an external site.). (https://www.youneedabudget.com/)
• This website provides access to a personal budgeting tool and may assist you in your Week 1 Journal.
Accessibility Statement does not exist.
Privacy Policy
Instructions
Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, read Chapter 1, “The Goals and Activities of Financial Management,” in the textbook.
Ethical behavior can be viewed at a personal level, as well as a corporate level. In business, personal ethics is often tied to the agency theory and at the corporate level tied to corporate social responsibility.
For this discussion forum,
• First, identify one real-life example of personal ethics and one real-life example of corporate social responsibility in the financial field from the last five years (no Enron or WorldCom examples, as these are too old). The example can be positive or negative. Note: When possible, select a different example than those already posted by a fellow classmate.
• Next, explain each ethical example and what might have been done differently, as well as what you learned from the example.
• Finally, select one financial business regulation (e.g., Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, etc.) and debate how it does or does not promote ethical behavior. Be sure to be specific when describing the regulation. What are other ways to ensure strong ethical business decisions?
Your initial response should be a minimum of 200 words. Graduate school students learn to assess the perspectives of several scholars. Support your response with at least one scholarly and/or credible resource in addition to the text.

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