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Chapter 24: Question 2CA-1 (page 1453)

(Disclosures Required in Various Situations) Ace Inc. produces electronic components for sale to manufacturers of radios, television sets, and digital sound systems. In connection with her examination of Ace’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018, Gloria Rodd, CPA, completed field work 2 weeks ago. Ms. Rodd now is evaluating the significance of the following items prior to preparing her auditor’s report. Except as noted, none of these items have been disclosed in the financial statements or notes.

Item 1: A 10-year loan agreement, which the company entered into 3 years ago, provides that dividend payments may not exceed net income earned after taxes subsequent to the date of the agreement. The balance of retained earnings at the date of the loan agreement was \(420,000. From that date through December 31, 2018, net income after taxes has totaled \)570,000 and cash dividends have totaled $320,000. On the basis of these data, the staff auditor assigned to this review concluded that there was no retained earnings restriction at December 31, 2018.

Instructions

For each of the above items, discuss any additional disclosures in the financial statements and notes that the auditor should recommend to her client. (The cumulative effect of the four items should not be considered.)

Short Answer

Expert verified

Retained earnings are restricted to the amount of $420,000.

Step by step solution

01

Meaning of Financial Statements

Financial statements are reports generated by a company's management to demonstrate the company's financial performanceand position at a certain moment in time. A balance sheet, income statements, statement of owner's equity, and statement of cash flows are usually included in a general-purpose collection of financial statements.

02

Additional disclosure in the financial statements

The provisions of the loan agreement were misinterpreted by the employee auditor evaluating it. Retained profit is limited to the amount of $420,000, which was the remainder of retained earnings at the time of settlement. The nature and amount of the limit should be mentioned in the balance sheet or financial statement note.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

An article in the financial press entitled “Important Information in Annual Reports This Year” noted that annual reports include a management’s discussion and analysis section. What would this section contain?

The following statement is an excerpt from the FASB pronouncement related to interim reporting. Interim financial information is essential to provide investors and others with timely information as to the progress of the enterprise. The usefulness of such information rests on the relationship that it has to the annual results of operations. Accordingly, the Board has concluded that each interim period should be viewed primarily as an integral part of an annual period. In general, the results for each interim period should be based on the accounting principles and practices used by an enterprise in the preparation of its latest annual financial statements unless a change in an accounting practice or policy has been adopted in the current year. The Board has concluded, however, that certain accounting principles and practices followed for annual reporting purposes may require modification at interim reporting dates so that the reported results for the interim period may better relate to the results of operations for the annual period.

Instructions

The following six independent cases present how accounting facts might be reported on an individual company’s interim financial reports. For each of these cases, state whether the method proposed to be used for interim reporting would be acceptable under generally accepted accounting principles applicable to interim financial data. Support each answer with a brief explanation.

c) Republic Company wrote inventory down to reflect lower-of-cost-or-market in the first quarter. At year-end, the market exceeds the original acquisition cost of this inventory. Consequently, management plans to write the inventory back up to its original cost as a year-end adjustment.

Picasso Company is a wholesale distributor of packaging equipment and supplies. The company’s sales have averaged about \(900,000 annually for the 3-year period 2015–2017. The firm’s total assets at the end of 2017 amounted to \)850,000.

The president of Picasso Company has asked the controller to prepare a report that summarizes the financial aspects of the company’s operations for the past 3 years. This report will be presented to the board of directors at their next meeting.

In addition to comparative financial statements, the controller has decided to present a number of relevant financial ratios which can assist in the identification and interpretation of trends. At the request of the controller, the accounting staff has calculated the following ratios for the 3-year period 2015–2017.

2015

2016

2017

Current ratio

1.80

1.89

1.96

Acid-test (quick) ratio

1.04

0.99

0.87

Accounts receivable turnover

8.75

7.71

6.42

Inventory turnover

4.91

4.32

3.42

Debt to assets ratio

51.0%

46.0%

41.0%

Long-term debt to assets ratio

31.0%

27.0%

24.0%

Sales to fixed assets (fixed asset turnover)

1.58

1.69

1.79

Sales as a percent of 2015 sales

1.00

1.03

1.07

Gross margin percentage

36.0%

35.1%

34.6%

Net income to sales

6.9%

7.0%

7.2%

Return on assets

7.7%

7.7%

7.8%

Return on common stockholders’ equity

13.6%

13.1%

12.7%

In preparation of the report, the controller has decided first to examine the financial ratios independent of any other data to determine if the ratios themselves reveal any significant trends over the 3-year period.

Instructions

b) In terms of the ratios provided, what conclusion(s) can be drawn regarding the company’s use of financial leverage during the 2015–2017 period?

(Disclosure of Estimates) Nancy Tercek, the financial vice president, and Margaret Lilly, the controller, of Romine Manufacturing Company are reviewing the financial ratios of the company for the years 2017 and 2018. The financial vice president notes that the profit margin on sales ratio has increased from 6% to 12%, a hefty gain for the 2-year period. Tercek is in the process of issuing a media release that emphasizes the efficiency of Romine Manufacturing in controlling cost. Margaret Lilly knows that the difference in ratios is due primarily to an earlier company decision to reduce the estimates of warranty and bad debt expense for 2018. The controller, not sure of her supervisor’s motives, hesitates to suggest to Tercek that the company’s improvement is unrelated to efficiency in controlling cost. To complicate matters, the media release is scheduled in a few days.

Instructions

  1. What, if any, is the ethical dilemma in this situation?

Differential reporting for small- and medium-sized entities:

a) is required for all companies less than a certain size.

b) omits accounting topics not relevant for SMEs, such as earnings per share, and interim and segment reporting.

c) has different rules for topics such as earnings per share, and interim and segment reporting.

d) requires significantly more disclosures, since more items are not recognized in the financial statements.
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