Recently, a group of university students decided to incorporate for the purposes of selling a process to recycle the waste product from manufacturing cheese. Some of the initial costs involved were legal fees and office expenses incurred in starting the business, state incorporation fees, and stamp taxes. One student wishes to charge these costs against revenue in the current period. Another wishes to defer these costs and amortize them in the future. Which student is correct?

Short Answer

Expert verified

The student who wishes to charge these costs against revenue in the current period is correct.

Step by step solution

01

Meaning of Initial Cost

The money necessary for the capital construction or refurbishment of a big facility is referred to as the initial cost.

02

Reason

These expenses are referred to as start-up costs or, in this case, organizational expenditures. Start-up expenditures are simple to account for: expend them when they are incurred. The profession understands that these expenses are made with the prospect of improved revenues or efficiency in the future. However, determining the amount and timing of future gains is so challenging that a conservative approach is required—expending these expenditures as they are spent.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Stave Company invests \(10,000,000 in 5% fixed rate corporate bonds on January 1, 2017. All the bonds are classified as available-for-sale and are purchased at par. At year-end, market interest rates have declined, and the fair value of the bonds is now \)10,600,000. Interest is paid on January 1. Prepare journal entries for Stave Company to (a) record the transactions related to these bonds in 2017, assuming Stave does not elect the fair option; and (b) record the transactions related to these bonds in 2017, assuming that Stave Company elects the fair value option to account for these bond.

What should be the pattern of amortization for a limited-life intangible?

Question: (Accounting for Franchise, Patents, and Trademark) Information concerning Sandro Corporation’s intangible assets is as follows.

  1. On January 1, 2017, Sandro signed an agreement to operate as a franchisee of Hsian Copy Service, Inc. for an initial franchise fee of \(75,000. Of this amount, \)15,000 was paid when the agreement was signed, and the balance is payable in 4 annual payments of \(15,000 each, beginning January 1, 2018. The agreement provides that the down payment is not refundable and no future services are required of the franchisor. The present value at January 1, 2017, of the 4 annual payments discounted at 14% (the implicit rate for a loan of this type) is \)43,700. The agreement also provides that 5% of the revenue from the franchise must be paid to the franchisor annually. Sandro’s revenue from the franchise for 2017 was \(900,000. Sandro estimates the useful life of the franchise to be 10 years. (Hint: You may want to refer to Chapter 18 to determine the proper accounting treatment for the franchise fee and payments.)
  2. Sandro incurred \)65,000 of experimental and development costs in its laboratory to develop a patent that was granted on January 2, 2017. Legal fees and other costs associated with registration of the patent totaled \(17,600. Sandro estimates that the useful life of the patent will be 8 years.
  3. A trademark was purchased from Shanghai Company for \)36,000 on July 1, 2014. Expenditures for successful litigation in defense of the trademark totaling $10,200 were paid on July 1, 2017. Sandro estimates that the useful life of the trademark will be 20 years from the date of acquisition.

Instructions

  1. Prepare a schedule showing the intangible assets section of Sandro’s balance sheet at December 31, 2017. Show supporting computations in good form.

Prepare a schedule showing all expenses resulting from the transactions that would appear on Sandro’s income statement for the year ended December 31, 2017. Show supporting computations in good form.

What is the GAAP definition of fair value?

Romo Company spent \(190,000 developing a new process, \)45,000 in legal fees to obtain a patent, and $91,000 to market the process that was patented, all in the year 2017. How should these costs be accounted for in 2017?

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