Question & Answer

Is there a compromise between purely discretionary policy and adhering to strict targets?

Indicate whether the following statements about the conceptual framework are true or false. If false, provide a brief explanation supporting your position. (a) The fundamental qualitative characteristics that make accounting information useful are relevance and verifiability. (b) Relevant information only has predictive value, confirmatory value, or both. (c) Information that is a faithful representation is characterized as having predictive or confirmatory value. (d) Comparability pertains only to the reporting of information in a similar manner for different companies. (e) Verifiability is solely an enhancing characteristic for faithful representation. (f) In preparing financial reports, it is assumed that users of the reports have reasonable knowledge of business and economic activities.

Describe the major constraint inherent in the presentation of accounting information.

In January 2015, Janeway Inc. doubled the amount of its outstanding stock by selling on the market an additional 10,000 shares to finance an expansion of the business. You propose that this information be shown by a footnote on the balance sheet as of December 31, 2014. The president objects, claiming that this sale took place after December 31, 2014, and therefore should not be shown. Explain your position.

Vertovec Inc., a large local consulting firm in Utah, hired several new consultants from out of state last year to help service their expanding list of clients. To aid in relocating the consultants, Vertovec Inc. purchased the consultants’ homes in their prior location if the consultants were unable to sell their homes within 30 days of listing them for sale. Vertovec Inc. bought the homes from the consultants for 5 percent less than the list price and then continued to list the homes for sale. Each home Vertovec Inc. purchased was sold at a loss. By the end of last year, Vertovec had suffered a loss totaling $250,000 from the homes. How should Vertovec treat the loss for tax purposes?  Write a memo to Vertovec Inc. explaining your findings and any planning suggestions that you may have if Vertovec Inc. continues to offer this type of relocation benefit to newly hired consultants.

Cecil cashed in a Series EE savings bond with a redemption value of $14,000 and an original cost of $9,800. For each of the following independent scenarios, calculate the amount of interest Cecil will include in his gross income assuming he files as a single taxpayer:

1.      : What social values are present in Guitarras Torres, that seem different from U.S. social values (see Exhibit 4.4 and Exhibit 4.5)? Explain.

Discuss whether the changes described in each of the cases below require recognition in the CPA’s audit report as to consistency. (Assume that the amounts are material.) (a) The company changed its inventory method to FIFO from weighted-average, which had been used in prior years. (b) The company disposed of one of the two subsidiaries that had been included in its consolidated statements for prior years. (c) The estimated remaining useful life of plant property was reduced because of obsolescence.

Identify and briefly describe the two methods generally employed to account for the cash received in situations where the collection of the sales price is not reasonably assured.

The following are the trial balance and the other information related to Yorkis Perez, a consulting engineer.   1. Fees received in advance from clients $6,000. 2. Services performed for clients that were not recorded by December 31, $4,900. 3. Bad debt expense for the year is $1,430. 4. Insurance expired during the year $480. 5. Equipment is being depreciated at 10% per year. 6. Yorkis Perez gave the bank a 90-day, 10% note for $7,200 on December 1, 2014. 7. Rent of the building is $750 per month. The rent for 2014 has been paid, as has that for January 2015. 8. Office salaries and wages earned but unpaid December 31, 2014, $2,510. Instructions (a) From the trial balance and other information given, prepare annual adjusting entries as of December 31, 2014. (Omit explanations.) (b) Prepare an income statement for 2014, a statement of owner’s equity, and a classified balance sheet. Yorkis Perez withdrew $17,000 cash for personal use during the year.

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.

Presented below are three different transactions related to materiality. Explain whether you would  classify these transactions as material. (a) Blair Co. has reported a positive trend in earnings over the last 3 years. In the current year, it reduces its bad debt allowance to ensure another positive earnings year. The impact of this adjustment is equal to 3% of net income. (b) Hindi Co. has an extraordinary gain of $3.1 million on the sale of plant assets and a $3.3 million loss on the sale of investments. It decides to net the gain and loss because the net effect is considered immaterial. Hindi Co.’s income for the current year was $10 million. (c) Damon Co. expenses all capital equipment under $25,000 on the basis that it is immaterial. The company has followed this practice for a number of years.

The Samsons are trying to determine whether they can claim their 22-year-old adopted son, Jason, as a dependent. Jason is currently a full-time student at an out-of-state university. Jason lived in his parents’ home for three months of the year, and he was away at school for the rest of the year. He received $9,500 in scholarships this year for his outstanding academic performance and earned $4,800 of income working a part-time job during the year. The Samsons paid a total of $5,000 to support Jason while he was away at college. Jason used the scholarship, the earnings from the part-time job, and the money from the Samsons as his only sources of support. Can the Samsons claim Jason as their dependent?

Explain how you would decide whether to record each of the following expenditures as an asset or an expense. Assume all items are material. (a) Legal fees paid in connection with the purchase of land are $1,500. (b) Eduardo, Inc. paves the driveway leading to the office building at a cost of $21,000. (c) A meat market purchases a meat-grinding machine at a cost of $3,500. (d) On June 30, Monroe and Meno, medical doctors, pay 6 months’ office rent to cover the month of July and the next 5 months. (e) Smith’s Hardware Company pays $9,000 in wages to laborers for construction on a building to be used in the business. (f) Alvarez’s Florists pays wages of $2,100 for the month an employee who serves as driver of their delivery truck.

What accounting assumption, principle, or constraint would Target Corporation use in each of the situations below? (a) Target was involved in litigation over the last year. This litigation is disclosed in the financial statements. (b) Target allocates the cost of its depreciable assets over the life it expects to receive revenue from these assets. (c) Target records the purchase of a new Dell PC at its cash equivalent price.

Why does the accounting profession make a distinction between internally created intangibles and purchased intangibles?

SFAC No. 8 identifies the qualitative characteristics that make accounting information useful. Presented below are a number of questions related to these qualitative characteristics and underlying constraint. (a) What is the quality of information that enables users to confirm or correct prior expectations? (b) Identify the pervasive constraint developed in the conceptual framework. (c) The chairman of the SEC at one time noted, “If it becomes accepted or expected that accounting principles are determined or modified in order to secure purposes other than economic measurement, we assume a grave risk that confidence in the credibility of our financial information systemwill be undermined.” Which qualitative characteristic of accounting information should ensure that such a situation will not occur? (Do not use faithful representation.) (d) Muruyama Corp. switches from FIFO to average-cost to FIFO over a 2-year period. Which qualitative characteristic of accounting information is not followed? (e) Assume that the profession permits the savings and loan industry to defer losses on investments it sells because immediate recognition of the loss may have adverse economic consequences on the industry. Which qualitative characteristic of accounting information is not followed? (Do not use relevance or faithful representation.) (f) What are the two fundamental qualities that make accounting information useful for decisionmaking? (g) Watteau Inc. does not issue its first-quarter report until after the second quarter’s results are reported. Which qualitative characteristic of accounting is not followed? (Do not use relevance.) (h) Predictive value is an ingredient of which of the two fundamental qualities that make accounting information useful for decision-making purposes? (i) Duggan, Inc. is the only company in its industry to depreciate its plant assets on a straight-line basis. Which qualitative characteristic of accounting information may not be followed? (j) Roddick Company has attempted to determine the replacement cost of its inventory. Three different appraisers arrive at substantially different amounts for this value. The president, nevertheless, decides to report the middle value for external reporting purposes. Which qualitative characteristic of information is lacking in these data? (Do not use relevance or faithful representation.)

Ten interrelated elements that are most directly related to measuring the performance and financial status of an enterprise are provided below. Assets Distributions to owners Expenses Liabilities Comprehensive income Gains Equity Revenues Losses Investments by owners Instructions Identify the element or elements associated with the 12 items below. (a) Arises from peripheral or incidental transactions. (b) Obligation to transfer resources arising from a past transaction. (c) Increases ownership interest. (d) Declares and pays cash dividends to owners. (e) Increases in net assets in a period from nonowner sources. (f) Items characterized by service potential or future economic benefit. (g) Equals increase in assets less liabilities during the year, after adding distributions to owners and subtracting investments by owners. (h) Arises from income statement activities that constitute the entity’s ongoing major or central operations. (i) Residual interest in the assets of the enterprise after deducting its liabilities. (j) Increases assets during a period through sale of product. (k) Decreases assets during the period by purchasing the company’s own stock. (l) Includes all changes in equity during the period, except those resulting from investments by owners and distributions to owners.

What is an intermediate phase in the context of alloys?

Presented below are the assumptions, principles, and constraint used in this chapter. Instructions Identify by number the accounting assumption, principle, or constraint that describes each situation below. Do not use a number more than once. (a) Allocates expenses to revenues in the proper period. (b) Indicates that fair value changes subsequent to purchase are not recorded in the accounts. (Do not use revenue recognition principle.) (c) Ensures that all relevant financial information is reported. (d) Rationale why plant assets are not reported at liquidation value. (Do not use historical cost principle.) (e) Indicates that personal and business record keeping should be separately maintained. (f) Separates financial information into time periods for reporting purposes. (g) Assumes that the dollar is the “measuring stick” used to report on financial performance.

Matt Ryan Corporation is interested in building its own soda can manufacturing plant adjacent to its existing plant in Partyville, Kansas. The objective would be to ensure a steady supply of cans at a stable price and to minimize transportation costs. However, the company has been experiencing some financial problems and has been reluctant to borrow any additional cash to fund the project. The company is not concerned with the cash flow problems of making payments, but rather with the impact of adding additional long-term debt to its balance sheet. The president of Ryan, Andy Newlin, approached the president of the Aluminum Can Company (ACC), its major supplier, to see if some agreement could be reached. ACC was anxious to work out an arrangement, since it seemed inevitable that Ryan would begin its own can production. The Aluminum Can Company could not afford to lose the account. After some discussion, a two-part plan was worked out. First, ACC was to construct the plant on Ryan’s land adjacent to the existing plant. Second, Ryan would sign a 20-year purchase agreement. Under the purchase agreement, Ryan would express its intention to buy all of its cans from ACC, paying a unit price which at normal capacity would cover labor and material, an operating management fee, and the debt service requirements on the plant. The expected unit price, if transportation costs are taken into consideration, is lower than current market. If Ryan did not take enough production in any one year and if the excess cans could not be sold at a high enough price on the open market, Ryan agrees to make up any cash shortfall so that ACC could make the payments on its debt. The bank will be willing to make a 20-year loan for the plant, taking the plant and the purchase agreement as collateral. At the end of 20 years, the plant is to become the property of Ryan. Instructions (a) What are project financing arrangements using special-purpose entities? (b) What are take-or-pay contracts? (c) Should Ryan record the plant as an asset together with the related obligation? (d) If not, should Ryan record an asset relating to the future commitment? (e) What is meant by off-balance-sheet financing?

Indicate how each of the following accounts should be classified in the equity section. (a) Share Capital—Ordinary. (e) Share Premium—Treasury. (b) Retained Earnings. (f) Share Capital—Preference. (c) Share Premium—Ordinary. (g) Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income. (d) Treasury Shares.

Wayne Cooper has some questions regarding the theoretical framework in which GAAP is set. He knows that the FASB and other predecessor organizations have attempted to develop a conceptual framework for accounting theory formulation. Yet, Wayne’s supervisors have indicated that these theoretical frameworks have little value in the practical sense (i.e., in the real world). Wayne did notice that accounting rules seem to be established after the fact rather than before. He thought this indicated a lack of theory structure but never really questioned the process at school because he was too busy doing the homework. Wayne feels that some of his anxiety about accounting theory and accounting semantics could be alleviated by identifying the basic concepts and definitions accepted by the profession and considering them in light of his current work. By doing this, he hopes to develop an appropriate connection between theory and practice. Instructions (a) Help Wayne recognize the purpose of and benefit of a conceptual framework. (b) Identify any Statements of Financial Accounting Concepts issued by the FASB that may be helpful to Wayne in developing his theoretical background.

Harrisburg Furniture Company started construction of a combination office and warehouse building for its own use at an estimated cost of $5,000,000 on January 1, 2014. Harrisburg expected to complete the building by December 31, 2014. Harrisburg has the following debt obligations outstanding during the construction period. Construction loan—12% interest, payable semiannually, issued December 31, 2013 $2,000,000Short-term loan—10% interest, payable monthly, and principal payable at maturity on May 30, 2015 1,400,000Long-term loan—11% interest, payable on January 1 of each year. Principal payable on January 1, 2018 1,000,000 Instructions (Carry all computations to two decimal places.) (a) Assume that Harrisburg completed the office and warehouse building on December 31, 2014, as planned at a total cost of $5,200,000, and the weighted-average amount of accumulated expenditures was $3,600,000. Compute the avoidable interest on this project. (b) Compute the depreciation expense for the year ended December 31, 2015. Harrisburg elected to depreciate the building on a straight-line basis and determined that the asset has a useful life of 30 years and a salvage value of $300,000.

Presented below are a number of business transactions that occurred during the current year for Gonzales, Inc. Instructions In each of the situations, discuss the appropriateness of the journal entries in terms of generally accepted accounting principles. (a) The president of Gonzales, Inc. used his expense account to purchase a new Suburban solely for personal use. The following journal entry was made. Miscellaneous Expense 29,000 Cash 29,000 (b) Merchandise inventory that cost $620,000 is reported on the balance sheet at $690,000, the expected selling price less estimated selling costs. The following entry was made to record this increase in value. Inventory 70,000 Sales Revenue 70,000 (c) The company is being sued for $500,000 by a customer who claims damages for personal injury apparently caused by a defective product. Company attorneys feel extremely confident that the company will have no liability for damages resulting from the situation. Nevertheless, the company decides to make the following entry. Loss from Lawsuit 500,000 Liability for Lawsuit 500,000 (d) Because the general level of prices increased during the current year, Gonzales, Inc. determined that there was a $16,000 understatement of depreciation expense on its equipment and decided to record it in its accounts. The following entry was made. Depreciation Expense 16,000 Accumulated Depreciation—Equipment 16,000 (e) Gonzales, Inc. has been concerned about whether intangible assets could generate cash in case of liquidation. As a consequence, goodwill arising from a purchase transaction during the current year and recorded at $800,000 was written off as follows. Retained Earnings 800,000 Goodwill 800,000 (f) Because of a “fire sale,” equipment obviously worth $200,000 was acquired at a cost of $155,000. The following entry was made. Equipment 200,000 Cash 155,000 Sales Revenue 45,000