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.

Short Answer

Expert verified

The first part is a change in estimate, the second part is an error, and the third part is the change in estimates

Step by step solution

01

First Part

It is a change in estimate. Change in the estimate is usually an adjustment to the carrying value or amount of the assets or liability of the company.

02

Second Part

It is an error. The expenses incurred on the building should go under their respective heads.

03

Third Part

It is a change in estimate. In this case, there is an adjustment to the value of the assets or the liabilities of the company as the amortization is involved.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

(Analysis of Various Accounting Changes and Errors) Katherine Irving, controller of Lotan Corp., is aware of a pronouncement on accounting changes. After reading the pronouncement, she is confused about what action should be taken on the following items related to Lotan Corp. for the year 2017.

1. In 2017, Lotan decided to change its policy on accounting for certain marketing costs. Previously, the company had chosen to defer and amortize all marketing costs over at least 5 years because Lotan believed that a return on these expenditures did not occur immediately. Recently, however, the time differential has considerably shortened, and Lotan is now expensing the marketing costs as incurred.

2. In 2017, the company examined its entire policy relating to the depreciation of plant equipment. Plant equipment had normally been depreciated over a 15-year period, but recent experience has indicated that the company was incorrect in its estimates and that the assets should be depreciated over a 20-year period.

3. One division of Lotan Corp., Hawthorne Co., has consistently shown an increasing net income from period to period. On closer examination of its operating statement, it is noted that bad debt expense and inventory obsolescence charges are much lower than in other divisions. In discussing this with the controller of this division, it has been learned that the controller has increased his net income each period by knowingly making low estimates related to the write-off of receivables and inventory.

4. In 2017, the company purchased new machinery that should increase production dramatically. The company has decided to depreciate this machinery on an accelerated basis, even though other machinery is depreciated on a straight-line basis.

5. All equipment sold by Lotan is subject to a 3-year warranty. It has been estimated that the expense ultimately to be incurred on these machines is 1% of sales. In 2017, because of a production breakthrough, it is now estimated that ½ of 1% of sales is sufficient. In 2015 and 2016, warranty expense was computed as \(64,000 and \)70,000, respectively. The company now believes that these warranty costs should be reduced by 50%.

6. In 2017, the company decided to change its method of inventory pricing from average-cost to the FIFO method. The effect of this change on prior years is to increase 2015 income by \(65,000 and increase 2016 income by \)20,000.

Instructions Katherine Irving has come to you, as her CPA, for advice about the situations above. Prepare a report, indicating the appropriate accounting treatment that should be given for each of these situations.

Aston Corporation performs year-end planning in November of each year before its calendar year ends in December. The preliminary estimated net income is \(3 million. The CFO, Rita Warren, meets with the company president, J. B. Aston, to review the projected numbers. She presents the following projected information. ASTON CORPORATION PROJECTED INCOME STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2017 Sales \)28,995,000 Interest revenue 5,000 Cost of goods sold \(14,000,000 Depreciation 2,600,000 Operating expenses 6,400,000 23,000,000 Income before income tax 6,000,000 Income tax 3,000,000 Net income \) 3,000,000 ASTON CORPORATION SELECTED BALANCE SHEET INFORMATION AT DECEMBER 31, 2017 Estimated cash balance \( 5,000,000 Available-for-sale debt investments (at cost) 10,000,000 Fair value adjustment (1/1/17) —0— Estimated fair value at December 31, 2017: Security Cost Estimated Fair Value A \) 2,000,000 \( 2,200,000 B 4,000,000 3,900,000 C 3,000,000 3,100,000 D 1,000,000 1,800,000 Total \)10,000,000 \(11,000,000 Other information at December 31, 2017: Equipment \)3,000,000 Accumulated depreciation (5-year SL) 1,200,000 New robotic equipment (purchased 1/1/17) 5,000,000 Accumulated depreciation (5-year DDB) 2,000,000 The corporation has never used robotic equipment before, and Warren assumed an accelerated method because of the rapidly changing technology in robotic equipment. The company normally uses straight-line depreciation for production equipment. Aston explains to Warren that it is important for the corporation to show a \(7,000,000 income before taxes because Aston receives a \)1,000,000 bonus if the income before taxes and bonus reaches \(7,000,000. Aston also does not want the company to pay more than \)3,000,000 in income taxes to the government.

Instructions (a) What can Warren do within GAAP to accommodate the president’s wishes to achieve $7,000,000 in income before taxes and bonus? Present the revised income statement based on your decision. (b) Are the actions ethical? Who are the stakeholders in this decision, and what effect do Warren’s actions have on their interests?

Indicate how the following items are recorded in the accounting records in the current year of Coronet Co. (a) Impairment of goodwill. (b) A change in depreciating plant assets from accelerated to the straight-line method. (c) Large write-off of inventories because of obsolescence. (d) Change from the cash basis to accrual basis of accounting. (e) Change from LIFO to FIFO method for inventory valuation purposes. (f) Change in the estimate of service lives for plant assets

Define a change in estimate and provide an illustration. When is a change in accounting estimate effected by a change in accounting principle?

Presented below are the comparative income and retained earnings statements for Denise Habbe Inc. for the years 2017 and 2018.

2018 2017 Sales \(340,000 \)270,000 Cost of sales 200,000 142,000 Gross profit 140,000 128,000 Expenses 88,000 50,000 Net income \( 52,000 \) 78,000 Retained earnings (Jan. 1) \(125,000 \) 72,000 Net income 52,000 78,000 Dividends (30,000) (25,000) Retained earnings (Dec. 31) \(147,000 \)125,000

The following additional information is provided: 1. In 2018, Denise Habbe Inc. decided to switch its depreciation method from sum-of-the-years’ digits to the straight-line method. The assets were purchased at the beginning of 2017 for \(100,000 with an estimated useful life of 4 years and no salvage value. (The 2018 income statement contains depreciation expense of \)30,000 on the assets purchased at the beginning of 2017.) 2. In 2018, the company discovered that the ending inventory for 2017 was overstated by $24,000; ending inventory for 2018 is correctly stated.

Instructions Prepare the revised retained earnings statement for 2017 and 2018, assuming comparative statements. (Ignore income taxes.)

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