Question & Answer

When the COVID-19 epidemic struck unexpectedly at the end of 2019, company closures and instructions to stay at home severely disrupted the economy. Write a short essay outlining how COVID-19 has affected the growth and use of fintech. Do you think this terrible episode had a positive effect on the growth and use of fintech, or did it generate more problems than fintech could solve?

What is meant by the securitisation of assets? How might this be (a) beneficial and (b) harmful to banks and the economy?

Cullen Construction Company, which began operations in 2014, changed from the completed-contract to the percentage-of-completion method of accounting for long-term construction contracts during 2015. For tax purposes, the company employs the completedcontract method and will continue this approach in the future. The appropriate information related to this change is as follows. Pretax Income Percentage-of-Completion Completed-Contract Difference 2014 $880,000 $590,000 $290,000 2015 900,000 480,000 420,000 Instructions (a) Assuming that the tax rate is 40%, what is the amount of net income that would be reported in 2015? (b) What entry(ies) are necessary to adjust the accounting records for the change in accounting principle?

Why does the accounting profession make a distinction between internally created intangibles and purchased intangibles?

Horton Corporation is preparing a bank reconciliation and has identified the following potential reconciling items. For each item, indicate if it is (1) added to balance per bank statement, (2) deducted from balance per bank statement, (3) added to balance per books, or (4) deducted from balance per books. (a) Deposit in transit $5,500. (d) Outstanding checks $7,422. (b) Bank service charges $25. (e) NSF check returned $377. (c) Interest credited to Horton’s account $31.

Explain why a partnership might not want to make a §754 election to allow special basis adjustments.

Explain why the credit crisis affected the ability of financial institutions to access short-term financing in the money markets. (LO1)

In Figures 2.21 and 2.22, the initial change in price was caused by a shift in the demand curve. Redraw these two diagrams to illustrate the situation where the initial change in price was caused by a shift in the supply curve (as would be the case in the wheat market that we have just considered).

What are the accounting problems related to the presentation of interim data?

Kathleen Cole Inc. acquired the following assets in January of 2012. Equipment, estimated service life, 5 years; salvage value, $15,000 $525,000 Building, estimated service life, 30 years; no salvage value $693,000 The equipment has been depreciated using the sum-of-the-years’-digits method for the first 3 years for financial reporting purposes. In 2015, the company decided to change the method of computing depreciation to the straight-line method for the equipment, but no change was made in the estimated service life or salvage value. It was also decided to change the total estimated service life of the building from 30 years to 40 years, with no change in the estimated salvage value. The building is depreciated on the straight-line method. Instructions (a) Prepare the general journal entry to record depreciation expense for the equipment in 2015. (b) Prepare the journal entry to record depreciation expense for the building in 2015. (Round all computations to two decimal places.)

1.    : What do you see as the primary advantage of using big data analytics—understanding the environment or influencing the environment? Why?

Joblonsky 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 Joblonsky Inc.’s 2014 financial statements. 1. At December 31, 2013, the client had a receivable of $820,000 from Hendricks Inc. on its statement of financial position. 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, 2013, would have been $250,000 less. The effect of the change on 2014 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 2014. If straight-line depreciation were used, 2014 income would be $110,000 greater. 3. In preparing its 2013 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 2014, retained earnings at December 31, 2013, would have been $375,000 less. 5. For the nursery division, the client proposes to switch from FIFO to average-cost inventories because it believes that average-cost will provide a better income measure. The effect of making this change on 2014 earnings will be an increase of $320,000. The client says that the effect of the change on December 31, 2013, 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 cost-recovery method of accounting to the percentageof- completion method. Had the percentage-of-completion method been employed in all prior years, retained earnings at December 31, 2013, would have been $1,075,000 greater. Instructions (a) For each of the changes described above, decide whether: (1) The change involves an accounting policy, accounting estimate, or correction of an error. (2) Restatement of opening retained earnings is required. (b) What would be the proper adjustment to the December 31, 2013, retained earnings?

Gordon Company sponsors a defined benefit pension plan. The following information related to the pension plan is available for 2014 and 2015. 2014 2015 Plan assets (fair value), December 31 $699,000 $849,000 Projected benefi t obligation, January 1 700,000 800,000 Pension asset/liability, January 1 140,000 Cr. ? Prior service cost, January 1 250,000 240,000 Service cost 60,000 90,000 Actual and expected return on plan assets 24,000 30,000 Amortization of prior service cost 10,000 12,000 Contributions (funding) 115,000 120,000 Accumulated benefi t obligation, December 31 500,000 550,000 Interest/settlement rate 9% 9% Instructions (a) Compute pension expense for 2014 and 2015. (b) Prepare the journal entries to record the pension expense and the company’s funding of the pension plan for both years.

Compare the relative effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policy under (a) fixed; (b) free-floating exchange rates.

On January 1, 2014, Irwin Animation sold a truck to Peete Finance for $33,000 and immediately leased it back. The truck was carried on Irwin’s books at $28,000. The term of the lease is 5 years, and title transfers to Irwin at lease-end. The lease requires five equal rental payments of $8,705 at the end of each year. The appropriate rate of interest is 10%, and the truck has a useful life of 5 years with no salvage value. Prepare Irwin’s 2014 journal entries.

1.      : How would you resolve the underlying conflicts among key stakeholders about museum direction and goals? What actions would you take?

Name three approaches to measuring benefit obligations from a pension plan and explain how they differ.

Name the four principal steps in chemical machining

What should be the Fed’s role? Should it focus only on monetary policy? Or should it engage in the trading of various types of securities in an attempt to stabilize the financial system when securities markets are suffering from investor fears and the potential for high credit (default) risk? (LO2, LO3)

What factors must be present for income shifting to be a viable strategy?

What is the kiddie tax?  Explain.

Explain why savings institutions may benefit when interest rates fall. (LO4)

Name some manufacturing processes that produce very poor surface finishes.

Fixed, variable, and mixed costs Bridges and Roads is an entity engaged in road construction. Some selected items from its chart of accounts are listed below.   Required For each account, indicate whether the account represents a fixed, variable, or mixed cost for the operation of road construction activity. If mixed, indicate whether it is predominantly fixed or variable. Explain your answers.   (a) Staff wages (f) Office supplies (b) Clerical wages (g) Professional dues (c) Rent (h) Professinal subscriptions (d) Licences (i) Property taxes (e) Insurance (j) Advertising   (LO2)   [Note about problem complexity: These are difficult questions because students will need to first visualise the costs (with very little information) and then apply chapter concepts. The Step 2 questions (A, B, and F) are the ones requiring significant assumptions to generate an answer.]

Balanced scorecard, financial and non-financial measures Dyggur Equipment manufactures and sells heavy equipment used in construction and mining. Customers are contractors who want reliable equipment at a low cost. The entity’s strategy is to provide reliable products at a price lower than its competitors. Management wants to emphasise quick delivery and quick turnaround when equipment needs repair or service so that contractors are not without their equipment often or for long. Dyggur is considering the following performance measures for use in its balanced scorecard.   Required (a)  Categorise each of the following potential balanced scorecard measures as             follows: F    Financial C   Customer I     Internal business process L   Learning and growth   (a)   Manufacturing cycle time per product (b)   Market share (c)   Average ratings on customer satisfaction surveys (d)   Average cost per unit (e)   Economic value added (f)   Percentage of receivables collected (g)   Dollar value of warranty work (h)   Time between order and delivery (i)    Time it takes to repair returned equipment (j)    Number of focus groups for new products (k)   Number of new uses for current products (l)    Number of times new technology is applied to current products (m)  Number of product change suggestions from sales (n)   Number of engineering change orders to improve manufacturing cycle (o)   Revenue growth (p)   Employee training hours (q)   Number of quality improvement suggestions from employees (r)   Number of new customers (s)   Number of repeat customers (t)    Employee turnover rate (u)   Defect rates for manufacturing production (v)   Percentage of error free-rates in: (i)   purchasing (ii)  billing (iii) customer record keeping    (b) Explain how Dyggur would use the scorecard solely as a diagnostic tool.