ACC 423 Assignments
Complete the following for this assignment as a team:
· Concepts for Analysis 20-5, p. 1176
· Concepts for Analysis 20-7, p. 1177
· Concepts for Analysis 22-1, p. 1329
· Concepts for Analysis 22-6, p. 1329
CA20-5 WRITING (Implications of GAAP Rules on Pensions) Jill Vogel and Pete Dell have to do a class presentation on GAAP rules for reporting pension information. In developing the class presentation, they decided to provide the class with a series of questions related to pensions and then discuss the answers in class. Given that the class has all read the rules related to pension accounting and reporting, they felt this approach would provide a lively discussion. Here are the questions:
1.In an article in Businessweek prior to new rules related to pensions, it was reported that the discount rates used by the largest 200 companies for pension reporting ranged from 5% to 11%. How can such a situation exist, and does GAAP alleviate this problem?
2.An article indicated that when new GAAP rules were issued related to pensions, it caused an increase in the liability for pensions for approximately 20% of companies. Why might this situation occur?
3.A recent article noted that while “smoothing” is not necessarily an accounting virtue, pension accounting has long been recognized as an exception—an area of accounting in which at least some dampening of market swings is appropriate. This is because pension funds are managed so that their performance is insulated from the extremes of short-term market swings. A pension expense that reflects the volatility of market swings might, for that reason, convey information of little relevance. Are these statements true?
4.Understanding the impact of the changes required in pension reporting requires detailed information about its pension plan(s) and an analysis of the relationship of many factors, particularly the:
(a)Type of plan(s) and any significant amendments.
(b)Plan participants.
(c)Funding status.
(d)Actuarial funding method and assumptions currently used.
What impact does each of these items have on financial statement presentation?
5.An article noted “You also need to decide whether to amortize gains and losses using the corridor method, or to use some other systematic method. Under the corridor approach, only gains and losses in excess of 10% of the greater of the projected benefit obligation or the plan assets would have to be amortized.” What is the corridor method and what is its purpose?
CA20-7 ETHICS (Nonvested Employees—An Ethical Dilemma) Thinken Technology recently merged with College Elec-tronix (CE), a computer graphics company. In performing a comprehensive audit of CE’s accounting system, Gerald Ott, internal audit manager for Thinken Technology, discovered that the new subsidiary did not record pension assets and liabilities, subject to GAAP.
The net present value of CE’s pension assets was $15.5 million, the vested benefit obligation was $12.9 million, and the projected benefit obligation was $17.4 million. Ott reported this audit finding to Julie Habbe, the newly appointed controller of CE. A few days later, Habbe called Ott for his advice on what to do. Habbe started her conversation by asking, “Can’t we eliminate the negative income effect of our pension dilemma simply by terminating the employment of nonvested employees before the end of our fiscal year?”
Instructions
How should Ott respond to Habbe’s remark about firing nonvested employees?
CA22-1 GROUPWORK (Analysis of Various Accounting Changes and Errors) Mathys Inc. has recently hired a new independent auditor, Karen Ogleby, who says she wants “to get everything straightened out.” Consequently, she has proposed the following accounting changes in connection with Mathys Inc.'s 2017 financial statements.
1.At December 31, 2016, the client had a receivable of $820,000 from Hendricks Inc. on its balance sheet. Hendricks Inc. has gone bankrupt, and no recovery is expected. The client proposes to write off the receivable as a prior period item.
2.The client proposes the following changes in depreciation policies.
(a)For office furniture and fixtures, it proposes to change from a 10-year useful life to an 8-year life. If this change had been made in prior years, retained earnings at December 31, 2016, would have been $250,000 less. The effect of the change on 2017 income alone is a reduction of $60,000.
(b)For its new equipment in the leasing division, the client proposes to adopt the sum-of-the-years'-digits depreciation method. The client had never used SYD before. The first year the client operated a leasing division was 2017. If straight-line depreciation were used, 2017 income would be $110,000 greater.
3.In preparing its 2016 statements, one of the client's bookkeepers overstated ending inventory by $235,000 because of a mathematical error. The client proposes to treat this item as a prior period adjustment.
4.In the past, the client has spread preproduction costs in its furniture division over 5 years. Because its latest furniture is of the “fad” type, it appears that the largest volume of sales will occur during the first 2 years after introduction. Consequently, the client proposes to amortize preproduction costs on a per-unit basis, which will result in expensing most of such costs during the first 2 years after the furniture's introduction. If the new accounting method had been used prior to 2017, retained earnings at December 31, 2016, would have been $375,000 less.
5.For the nursery division, the client proposes to switch from FIFO to LIFO inventories because it believes that LIFO will provide a better matching of current costs with revenues. The effect of making this change on 2017 earnings will be an increase of $320,000. The client says that the effect of the change on December 31, 2016, retained earnings cannot be determined.
6.To achieve an appropriate recognition of revenues and expenses in its building construction division, the client proposes to switch from the completed-contract method of accounting to the percentage-of-completion method. Had the percentage-of-completion method been employed in all prior years, retained earnings at December 31, 2016, would have been $1,075,000 greater.
CA22-6 ETHICS (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 fast-growing 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?