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Chapter 4: Q4-3CA (page 190)

Charlie Brown, the controller for Kelly Corporation, is preparing the company’s income statement at year-end. He notes that the company lost a considerable sum on the sale of some equipment it had decided to replace. Since the company has sold equipment routinely in the past, Brown knows the losses cannot be reported as an unusual item. He also does not want to highlight it as a material loss since he feels that will reflect poorly on him and the company. He reasons that if the company had recorded more depreciation during the assets’ lives, the losses would not be so great. Since depreciation is included among the company’s operating expenses, he wants to report the losses along with the company’s expenses, where he hopes it will not be noticed.

Instructions

  1. What are the ethical issues involved?
  2. What should Brown do?

Short Answer

Expert verified

In the given case, Brown is raising the expenses of the company to hide the material loss associated with the company’s activities.

Step by step solution

01

Meaning of Ethics

In accounting, ethics refers to the adherence to applicable rules, guidelines, and principles associated with accounting activities. Such ethics are issued by governing bodies to prevent the misuse of financial information.

02

Involvement of ethical issues

According to the situation mentioned above, the practice adopted by Brown is unethical because he is not following the full disclosure principle of accounting.

In addition, Brown is hiding material information from the external users of financial information and making manipulations in thebooks of accounts.

03

Responsibility of Mr. Brown

In the given situation, Mr. Charlie Brown should follow the accounting principles and accurately disclose the information associated with material loss.

In addition, Brown must disclose the loss in unusual items rather than increasing the depreciation expenses in the operating activities section of the income statement.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

(Multiple-Step and Single-Step Statements) The accountant of Latifa Shoe Co. has piled the following information from the company’s records as a basis for an income statement for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Rent revenue \(29,000

Interest expense 18,000

Market appreciation on land above cost 31,000

Salaries and wages expense (selling) 114,800

Supplies (selling) 17,600

Income tax 37,400

Salaries and wages expense (administrative) \)135,900

Other administrative expenses 51,700

Cost of goods sold 496,000

Net sales 980,000

Depreciation on plant assets (70% selling, 30% administrative) 65,000

Cash dividends declared 16,000

There were 20,000 shares of common stock outstanding during the year.

Instructions

  1. Prepare a multiple-step income statement.
  2. Prepare a single-step income statement.
  3. (c) Which format do you prefer? Discuss.

State some of the more serious problems encountered in seeking to achieve the ideal measurement of periodic net income. Explain what accountants do as a practical alternative.

Tim Mattke Company began operations in 2015 and for simplicity reasons, adopted weighted-average pricing for inventory. In 2017, in accordance with other companies in its industry, Mattke changed its inventory pricing to FIFO. The pretax income data is reported below.

Year Weighted Average FIFO

2015 \(370,000 \)395,000

2016 390,000 \(430,000

2017 410,000 \)450,000

Instructions

  1. What is Mattke’s net income in 2017? Assume a 35% tax rate in all years.
  2. Compute the cumulative effect of the change in accounting principle from weighted-average to FIFO inventory pricing.

Show comparative income statements for Tim Mattke Company, beginning with income before income tax, as presented on the 2017 income statement.

During 2017, Williamson Company changed from FIFO to weighted-average inventory pricing. Pretax income in 2016 and 2015 (Williamson’s first year of operations) under FIFO was \(160,000 and \)180,000, respectively. Pretax income using weighted-average pricing in the prior years would have been \(145,000 in 2016 and \)170,000 in 2015. In 2017, Williamson reported a pretax income (using weighted-average pricing) of $180,000. Show comparative income statements for Williamson, beginning with “Income before income tax,” as presented on the 2017 income statement. (The tax rate in all years is 30%.)

Stacy Corporation had income from operations of \(7,200,000. In addition, it suffered an unusual and infrequent pretax loss of \)770,000 from a volcano eruption, interest revenue of \(17,000, and a write-down on buildings of \)53,000. The corporation's tax rate is 30%. Prepare a partial income statement for Stacy beginning with income from operations. The corporation had 5,000,000 shares of common stock outstanding during 2017.
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