Question & Answer

What is meant by “past service cost”? When is past service cost recognized as pension expense?

What is a modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS)? Speculate as to why this system is now required for tax purposes.

On January 1, 2014, Norma Smith and Grant Wood formed a computersales and service company in Soapsville, Arkansas, by investing $90,000 cash. The new company,Arkansas Sales and Service, has the following transactions during January. 1. Pays $6,000 in advance for 3 months’ rent of office, showroom, and repair space. 2. Purchases 40 personal computers at a cost of $1,500 each, 6 graphics computers at a cost of $2,500 each, and 25 printers at a cost of $300 each, paying cash upon delivery. 3. Sales, repair, and office employees earn $12,600 in salaries and wages during January, of which $3,000 was still payable at the end of January. 4. Sells 30 personal computers at $2,550 each, 4 graphics computers for $3,600 each, and 15 printers for $500 each; $75,000 is received in cash in January, and $23,400 is sold on a deferred payment basis. 5. Other operating expenses of $8,400 are incurred and paid for during January; $2,000 of incurred expenses are payable at January 31. Instructions (a) Using the transaction data above, prepare (1) a cash-basis income statement and (2) an accrual-basis income statement for the month of January. (b) Using the transaction data above, prepare (1) a cash-basis balance sheet and (2) an accrual-basis balance sheet as of January 31, 2014. (c) Identify the items in the cash-basis financial statements that make cash-basis accounting inconsistent with the theory underlying the elements of financial statements.

What is the nature of a “sale-leaseback” transaction?

Corrs Wholesalers Co. sells industrial equipment for a standard 3-year note receivable. Revenue is recognized at time of sale. Each note is secured by a lien on the equipment and has a face amount equal to the equipment’s list price. Each note’s stated interest rate is below the customer’s market rate at date of sale. All notes are to be collected in three equal annual installments beginning one year after sale. Some of the notes are subsequently sold to a bank with recourse, some are subsequently sold without recourse, and some are retained by Corrs. At year end, Corrs evaluates all outstanding notes receivable and provides for estimated losses arising from defaults. Instructions (a) What is the appropriate valuation basis for Corrs’s notes receivable at the date it sells equipment? (b) How should Corrs account for the sale, without recourse, of a February 1, 2014, note receivable sold on May 1, 2014? Why is it appropriate to account for it in this way? (c) At December 31, 2014, how should Corrs measure and account for the impact of estimated losses resulting from notes receivable that it (1) Retained and did not sell? (2) Sold to bank with recourse?

Villa Company has experienced tough competition, leading it to seek concessions from its employees in the company’s pension plan. In exchange for promises to avoid layoffs and wage cuts, the employees agreed to receive lower pension benefits in the future. As a result, Villa amended its pension plan on January 1, 2014, and recorded negative past service cost of $125,000. Current service cost for 2014 is $26,000. Interest expense is $9,000, and interest revenue is $2,500. Actual return on assets in 2012 is $1,500. Compute Villa’s pension expense in 2014.

What is the feature that distinguishes glass from the traditional and new ceramics?

Net income for the year for Carrie, Inc. was $750,000, but the statement of cash flows reports that net cash provided by operating activities was $860,000. What might account for the difference?

What is a blind hole?

What is meant by liquidity? Rank the following assets from one to five in order of liquidity. (a) Goodwill. (b) Inventory. (c) Buildings. (d) Short-term investments. (e) Accounts receivable.

List some rate-sensitive assets and some rate-insensitive assets of banks. (LO3)

: Explain how factors such as creating an open communication climate, the choice of communication channels, candor, questions, and nonverbal communications influence the quality of communication.

What are the two types of losses that can become evident in accounting for long-term contracts? What is the nature of each type of loss? How is each type accounted for?

Give two examples of price discrimination. What category of price discrimination are they? In what ways do the consumers gain or lose? What information would you need to be certain in your answer?

Roundtree Manufacturing Co. is preparing its year-end financial statements and is considering the accounting for the following items. 1. The vice president of sales had indicated that one product line has lost its customer appeal and will be phased out over the next 3 years. Therefore, a decision has been made to lower the estimated lives on related production equipment from the remaining 5 years to 3 years. 2. The Hightone Building was converted from a sales office to offices for the Accounting Department at the beginning of this year. Therefore, the expense related to this building will now appear as an administrative expense rather than a selling expense on the current year’s income statement. 3. Estimating the lives of new products in the Leisure Products Division has become very difficult because of the highly competitive conditions in this market. Therefore, the practice of deferring and amortizing preproduction costs has been abandoned in favor of expensing such costs as they are incurred. Identify and explain whether each of the above items is a change in principle, a change in estimate, or an error.

Kreter Co. provides the following information about its postretirement benefit plan for the year 2014. Service cost $ 45,000 Contribution to the plan 10,000 Actual and expected return on plan assets 11,000 Benefi ts paid 20,000 Plan assets at January 1, 2014 110,000 Accumulated postretirement benefi t obligation at January 1, 2014 330,000 Discount rate 8% Instructions Compute the postretirement benefit expense for 2014.

Identify which basic principle of accounting is best described in each item below. (a) Norfolk Southern Corporation reports revenue in its income statement when the performance obligation is satisfied instead of when the cash is collected. (b) Yahoo! recognizes depreciation expense for a machine over the 2-year period during which that machine helps the company earn revenue. (c) Oracle Corporation reports information about pending lawsuits in the notes to its financial statements. (d) Eastman Kodak Company reports land on its balance sheet at the amount paid to acquire it, even though the estimated fair value is greater.

Hull Company’s record of transactions concerning part X for the month of April was as follows. Purchases Sales April 1 (balance on hand) 100 @ $5.00 April 5 300 4 400 @ 5.10 12 200 11 300 @ 5.30 27 800 18 200 @ 5.35 28 150 26 600 @ 5.60 30 200 @ 5.80 Instructions (a) Compute the inventory at April 30 on each of the following bases. Assume that perpetual inventory records are kept in units only. Carry unit costs to the nearest cent. (1) First-in, first-out (FIFO). (2) Last-in, first-out (LIFO). (3) Average-cost. (b) If the perpetual inventory record is kept in dollars, and costs are computed at the time of each withdrawal, what amount would be shown as ending inventory in (1), (2), and (3) above? (Carry average unit costs to four decimal places.)

Assume Tamar uses the IRS method of allocating expenses to rental use of the property.

Prior to 2014, Heberling Inc. excluded manufacturing overhead costs from work in process and finished goods inventory. These costs have been expensed as incurred. In 2014, the company decided to change its accounting methods for manufacturing inventories to full costing by including these costs as product costs. Assuming that these costs are material, how should this change be reflected in the financial statements for 2013 and 2014?

Identify some of the characteristic properties of composite materials.

Mission statement, strategy, balanced scorecard implementation Squeezers Juice and Tea Company manufactures organic juices and chai teas that are sold at whole foods stores. Several of its products have been featured in movies because the company’s products are popular with celebrities. The owners and employees value organic products and innovative combinations of juices and teas with outstanding taste. Several employees have found sources of unusual ingredients from organic farmers around the world. The ingredients are more expensive than those used by other juice manufacturers. Although Squeezers cannot set unrealistically high prices, it focuses on high quality. Demand for the company’s products is stable, even though it sets the highest prices for juices in its market. Recently, the costs of several unusual ingredients increased because of weather conditions. The owner is concerned that increasing prices any more could reduce demand. She has taken a business workshop and learned about the balanced scorecard. She wants to incorporate a balanced scorecard at Squeezers.   Required (a)     Draft a potential mission statement for Squeezers. Explain how you decided what should be included in the statement and how it should be worded. (b)     Explain the company’s business strategy and core competencies. (c)     Identify several performance objectives for each of the four perspectives. (d)     Select two performance objectives for each of the four perspectives, and identify a potential performance measure for each. Explain your choices. (e)     Describe possible methods to collect the data needed for each of the performance measures in part (d). For example, what existing information might be available? What new record-keeping might be required? Would the company need to develop surveys?

Using the Internet, find a comparison of income tax rates across states.  What state currently has the highest income tax rate?  In considering individual tax burdens across states, what other taxes should you consider?

Explain five management competencies and the trend toward bosslessness in today’s world.

Identify three situations in which accounting measures are based on present values. Do these present value applications involve single sums or annuities, or both single sums and annuities? Explain.