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Chapter 22: Q6CA. (page 1323)

(Change in Estimate) Mike Crane is an audit senior of a large public accounting firm who has just been assigned to the Frost Corporation’s annual audit engagement. Frost has been a client of Crane’s firm for many years. Frost is a fastgrowing business in the commercial construction industry. In reviewing the fixed asset ledger, Crane discovered a series of unusual accounting changes, in which the useful lives of assets, depreciated using the straight-line method, were substantially lowered near the midpoint of the original estimate. For example, the useful life of one dump truck was changed from 10 to 6 years during its fifth year of service. Upon further investigation, Mike was told by Kevin James, Frost’s accounting manager, “I don’t really see your problem. After all, it’s perfectly legal to change an accounting estimate. Besides, our CEO likes to see big earnings!”

Instructions Answer the following questions.

(a) What are the ethical issues concerning Frost’s practice of changing the useful lives of fixed assets?

(b) Who could be harmed by Frost’s unusual accounting changes?

(c) What should Crane do in this situation?

Short Answer

Expert verified

There will be no ethical issue if there is a reason to change the useful life of the asset. It will affect future period calculations and Crane should report this upper management of the company.

Step by step solution

01

Ethical issues

There are no ethical issues in changing the useful life of any fixed asset of the business. Under both GAAP and IFRS, changes in methods of depreciation and any change in estimated useful life are reported in current and future periods.

02

Unusual accounting changes will cause harm

In this case, any significant change made to the asset will affect its useful life. This will not affect prior period depreciation but it will affect future periods.

03

Actions of Crane

Crane should report these changes to the upper management of the company, also this needs to be disclosed in a form of a report containing all the findings.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Botticelli Inc. was organized in late 2015 to manufacture and sell hosiery. At the end of its fourth year of operation, the company has been fairly successful, as indicated by the following reported net incomes.

2015 \(140,000a 2017 \)205,000

2016 160,000b 2018 276,000

a Includes a \(10,000 increase because of change in bad debt experience rate.

bIncludes a gain of \)30,000.

The company has decided to expand operations and has applied for a sizable bank loan. The bank officer has indicated that the records should be audited and presented in comparative statements to facilitate analysis by the bank. Botticelli Inc. therefore hired the auditing firm of Check & Doublecheck Co. and has provided the following additional information.

1. In early 2016, Botticelli Inc. changed its estimate from 2% of sales to 1% on the amount of bad debt expense to be charged to operations. Bad debt expense for 2015, if a 1% rate had been used, would have been \(10,000. The company therefore restated its net income for 2015.

2. In 2018, the auditor discovered that the company had changed its method of inventory pricing from LIFO to FIFO. The effect on the income statements for the previous years is as follows.

2015 2016 2017 2018

Net income unadjusted—LIFO basis \)140,000 \(160,000 \)205,000 \(276,000

Net income unadjusted—FIFO basis 155,000 165,000 215,000 260,000

\) 15,000 \( 5,000 \) 10,000 \( (16,000)

3. In 2018, the auditor discovered that:

(a) The company incorrectly overstated the ending inventory (under both LIFO and FIFO) by \)14,000 in 2017.

(b) A dispute developed in 2016 with the Internal Revenue Service over the deductibility of entertainment expenses. In 2015, the company was not permitted these deductions, but a tax settlement was reached in 2018 that allowed these expenses. As a result of the court’s finding, tax expenses in 2018 were reduced by $60,000.

Instructions

(a) Indicate how each of these changes or corrections should be handled in the accounting records. (Ignore income tax considerations.)

(b) Present net income as reported in comparative income statements for the years 2015 to 2018

IFRS requires companies to use which method for reporting changes in accounting policies?

(a) Cumulative effect approach.

(b) Retrospective approach.

(c) Prospective approach.

(d) Averaging approach.

Indicate the effect—Understate, Overstate, No Effect—that each of the following errors has on 2017 net income and 2018 net income. 2017 2018 (a) Equipment (with a useful life of 5 years) was purchased and expensed in 2015. (b) Wages payable were not recorded at 12/31/17. (c) Equipment purchased in 2017 was expensed. (d) 2017 ending inventory was overstated. (e) Patent amortization was not recorded in 2018.

In 2017, Bailey Corporation discovered that equipment purchased on January 1, 2015, for $50,000 was expensed at that time. The equipment should have been depreciated over 5 years, with no salvage value. The effective tax rate is 30%. Prepare Bailey’s 2017 journal entry to correct the error. Bailey uses straight-line depreciation

Penn Company is in the process of adjusting and correcting its books at the end of 2017. In reviewing its records, the following information is compiled.

1. Penn has failed to accrue sales commissions payable at the end of each of the last 2 years, as follows. December 31, 2016 \(3,500 December 31, 2017 \)2,500

2. In reviewing the December 31, 2017, inventory, Penn discovered errors in its inventory-taking procedures that have caused inventories for the last 3 years to be incorrect, as follows. December 31, 2015 Understated \(16,000 December 31, 2016 Understated \)19,000 December 31, 2017 Overstated \( 6,700 Penn has already made an entry that established the incorrect December 31, 2017, inventory amount.

3. At December 31, 2017, Penn decided to change the depreciation method on its office equipment from double-decliningbalance to straight-line. The equipment had an original cost of \)100,000 when purchased on January 1, 2015. It has a 10- year useful life and no salvage value. Depreciation expense recorded prior to 2017 under the double-declining-balance method was \(36,000. Penn has already recorded 2017 depreciation expense of \)12,800 using the double-declining-balance method. 4. Before 2017, Penn accounted for its income from long-term construction contracts on the completed-contract basis. Early in 2017, Penn changed to the percentage-of-completion basis for accounting purposes. It continues to use the completedcontract method for tax purposes. Income for 2017 has been recorded using the percentage-of-completion method. The following information is available.

Pretax Income

Percentage-of-Completion Completed-Contract

Prior to 2017 \(150,000 \)105,000

2017 60,000 20,000

Instructions

Prepare the journal entries necessary at December 31, 2017, to record the above corrections and changes. The books are still open for 2017. The income tax rate is 40%. Penn has not yet recorded its 2017 income tax expense and payable amounts so current-year tax effects may be ignored. Prior-year tax effects must be considered in item 4.
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