Chapter 8: Question CA8-9 (page 437)

Arruza Co. is considering switching from the specific-goods LIFO approach to the dollar-value LIFO approach. Because the financial personnel at Arruza know very little about dollar-value LIFO, they ask youto answer the following questions.

(a) What is a LIFO pool?

(b) Is it possible to use a LIFO pool concept and not use dollar-value LIFO? Explain.

(c) What is a LIFO liquidation?

(d) How are price indexes used in the dollar-value LIFO method?

(e) What are the advantages of dollar-value LIFO over specific-goods LIFO?

Short Answer

Expert verified

Groups of similar inventories make the LIFO pool. It is not possible to use a single method. LIFO liquidation is a problem of selling old inventory. The ending inventory at dollar value LIFO for Dec 2018 comes out to be $120,945. There are five major steps to determine the dollar value of LIFO.

Step by step solution

01

LIFO Pool

A pool is a group of items that have similar nature. A LIFO pool is a group of similar inventories pooled together to avoid the LIFO liquidation problem.

02

LIFO pool vs. dollar value LIFO

No, it is not possible to use only one inventory method as different inventories require different attention. LIFO pools can be time-consuming, costly, and lead to the erosion of layers. Dollar value LIFO overcome these issues by only taking the dollar value and not the physical quantities of goods.

03

LIFO Liquidation

LIFO liquidation is the problem of piling up older inventories and selling them at discounted prices. This happens due to the LIFO approach; all the newest inventories are used first, and only older inventories are leftover.

04

Price index and dollar value LIFO

The price index is the essential factor to determine the dollar value LIFO. The price index is the ratio of the current year’s prices to the base year’s prices.

For determining the dollar-value LIFO. The layers at base cost are converted to the current level by taking the product of layers at the base level and price index.

The obtained product is summed up to get the inventory value.

05

Advantages of dollar value LIFO over specific identification. 

Specific identification is a complex and time-consuming method in which each item is matched with the specific inventories to be sold. Whereas, Under the dollar-value LIFO method the values of ending inventories are matched with the base year prices.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Some of the transactions of Torres Company during August are listed below. Torres uses the periodic inventory method.

August 10 Purchased merchandise on account, \(12,000, terms 2/10, n/30.

13 Returned part of the purchase of August 10, \)1,200, and received

credit on account.

15 Purchased merchandise on account, \(16,000, terms 1/10, n/60.

25 Purchased merchandise on account, \)20,000, terms 2/10, n/30.

28 Paid invo

ice of August 15 in full.

Instructions

(a) Assuming that purchases are recorded at gross amounts and that discounts are to be recorded when taken:

(1) Prepare general journal entries to record the transactions.

(2) Describe how the various items would be shown in the financial statements.

(b) Assuming that purchases are recorded at net amounts and that discounts lost are treated as financial expenses:

(1) Prepare general journal entries to enter the transactions.

(2) Prepare the adjusting entry necessary on August 31 if financial statements are to be prepared at that time.

(3) Describe how the various items would be shown in the financial statements.

(c) Which of the two methods do you prefer and why?

Dimitri Company, a manufacturer of small tools, provided the following information from its accounting records for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Inventory at December 31, 2017 (based on physical count of goods in Dimitri’s plant, at cost, on December 31, 2017) \(1,520,000

Accounts payable at December 31, 2017 1,200,000

Net sales (sales less sales returns) 8,150,000

Additional information is as follows.

1. Included in the physical count were tools billed to a customer f.o.b. shipping point on December 31, 2017. These tools had a cost of \)31,000 and were billed at \(40,000. The shipment was on Dimitri’s loading dock waiting to be picked up by the common carrier.

2. Goods were in transit from a vendor to Dimitri on December 31, 2017. The invoice cost was \)76,000, and the goods were shipped f.o.b. shipping point on December 29, 2017.

3. Work in process inventory costing \(30,000 was sent to an outside processor for plating on December 30, 2017.

4. Tools returned by customers and held pending inspection in the returned goods area on December 31, 2017, were not included in the physical count. On January 8, 2018, the tools costing \)32,000 were inspected and returned to inventory. Credit memos totaling \(47,000 were issued to the customers on the same date.

5. Tools shipped to a customer f.o.b. destination on December 26, 2017, were in transit at December 31, 2017, and had a cost of \)26,000. Upon notification of receipt by the customer on January 2, 2018, Dimitri issued a sales invoice for \(42,000.

6. Goods, with an invoice cost of \)27,000, received from a vendor at 5:00 p.m. on December 31, 2017, were recorded on a receiving report dated January 2, 2018. The goods were not included in the physical count, but the invoice was included in accounts payable at December 31, 2017.

7. Goods received from a vendor on December 26, 2017, were included in the physical count. However, the related \(56,000 vendor invoice was not included in accounts payable at December 31, 2017, because the accounts payable copy of the receiving report was lost.

8. On January 3, 2018, a monthly freight bill in the amount of \)8,000 was received. The bill specifically related to merchandise purchased in December 2017, one-half of which was still in the inventory at December 31, 2017. The freight charges were not included in either the inventory or in accounts payable at December 31, 2017.

Instructions

Using the format shown below, prepare a schedule of adjustments as of December 31, 2017, to the initial amounts per Dimitri’s accounting records. Show separately the effect, if any, of each of the eight transactions on the December 31, 2017, amounts. If the transactions would have no effect on the initial amount shown, enter NONE.

Accounts Net

Inventory Payable Sales

Initial amounts \(1,520,000 \)1,200,000 \(8,150,000

Adjustments—increase

(decrease)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Total adjustments

Adjusted amounts \) \( \)

George Solti, the controller for Garrison Lumber Company, has recently hired you as assistant controller. He wishes to determine your expertise in the area of inventory accounting and therefore asks you to answer thefollowing unrelated questions.

(a) A company is involved in the wholesaling and retailing of automobile tires for foreign cars. Most of the inventory is imported,and it is valued on the company’s records at the actual inventory cost plus freight-in. At year-end, the warehousing costs areprorated over cost of goods sold and ending inventory. Are warehousing costs considered a product cost or a period cost?

(b) A certain portion of a company’s “inventory” is composed of obsolete items. Should obsolete items that are not currentlyconsumed in the production of “goods or services to be available for sale” be classified as part of inventory?

(c) A company purchases airplanes for sale to others. However, until they are sold, the company charters and services theplanes. What is the proper way to report these airplanes in the company’s financial statements?

(d) A company wants to buy coal deposits but does not want the financing for the purchase to be reported on its financialstatements. The company therefore establishes a trust to acquire the coal deposits. The company agrees to buy the coalover a certain period of time at specified prices. The trust is able to finance the coal purchase and pay off the loan as itis paid by the company for the minerals. How should this transaction be reported?

As compared with the FIFO method of costing inventories, does the LIFO method result in a larger or smaller net income in a period of rising prices? What is the comparative effect on net income in a period of falling prices?

Define “cost” as applied to the valuation of inventories.

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