(a) Lara Croft has been hired as a new auditor for Jolie Inc. Ms. Croft has suggested the following accounting changes in regards to the company’s financial statements.     At December 31, 2019, Jolie Inc. had a receivable of $500,000 from Relic Inc. on its statement of financial position. Relic had gone bankrupt, and no recovery is expected. Jolie proposes to write off the receivable as a prior period item.     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, 2019, would have been $250,000 less. The effect of the change on 2020 income alone is a reduction of $60,000.     (b) For its equipment in the leasing division, the client proposes to adopt the sum-of-the[1]years’-digits depreciation method. The client had never used SYD before. The first year the client operated a leasing division was 2020. If straight-line depreciation were used, 2020 income would be $110,000 greater.     In preparing its 2019 statements, one of the client’s bookkeepers overstated ending inventory by $178,000 because of a mathematical error. The client proposes to treat this item as a prior period adjustment.     In the past, the client has spread pre-production costs in its furniture division over 5years. 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 pre-production 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 2020, retained earnings at December 31, 2019, would have been $215,000 less.     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 matching of current costs with revenues. The effect of making this change on 2020 earnings will be an increase of $320,000. The client says that the effect of the change on December 31, 2019, retained earnings cannot be determined.     To achieve a better matching of revenues and expenses in its building construction division, the client proposes to switch from the cost-recovery 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, 2019, would have been $950,000 greater.   Instructions     (i) For each of the changes described above, decide whether:   The change involves an accounting policy, accounting estimate, or correction of an error. Restatement of opening retained earnings is required.   (ii) What would be the proper adjustment to the December 31, 2019, retained earnings?

Intermediate Accounting: Reporting And Analysis
3rd Edition
ISBN:9781337788281
Author:James M. Wahlen, Jefferson P. Jones, Donald Pagach
Publisher:James M. Wahlen, Jefferson P. Jones, Donald Pagach
Chapter22: Accounting For Changes And Errors.
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 16E: Dudley Company failed to recognize the following accruals. It also recorded the prepaid expenses and...
icon
Related questions
Question

(a) Lara Croft has been hired as a new auditor for Jolie Inc. Ms. Croft has suggested the

following accounting changes in regards to the company’s financial statements.

 

 

  1. At December 31, 2019, Jolie Inc. had a receivable of $500,000 from Relic Inc. on its statement of financial position. Relic had gone bankrupt, and no recovery is expected. Jolie proposes to write off the receivable as a prior period item.

 

 

  1. 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, 2019, would have been $250,000 less. The effect of the change on 2020 income alone is a reduction of $60,000.

 

 

(b) For its equipment in the leasing division, the client proposes to adopt the sum-of-the[1]years’-digits depreciation method. The client had never used SYD before. The first year the client operated a leasing division was 2020. If straight-line depreciation were used, 2020 income would be $110,000 greater.

 

 

  1. In preparing its 2019 statements, one of the client’s bookkeepers overstated ending inventory by $178,000 because of a mathematical error. The client proposes to treat this item as a prior period adjustment.

 

 

  1. In the past, the client has spread pre-production costs in its furniture division over 5years. 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 pre-production 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 2020, retained earnings at December 31, 2019, would have been $215,000 less.

 

 

  1. 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 matching of current costs with revenues. The effect of making this change on 2020 earnings will be an increase of $320,000. The client says that the effect of the change on December 31, 2019, retained earnings cannot be determined.

 

 

  1. To achieve a better matching of revenues and expenses in its building construction division, the client proposes to switch from the cost-recovery 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, 2019, would have been $950,000 greater.

 

Instructions

 

 

(i) For each of the changes described above, decide whether:

 

The change involves an accounting policy, accounting estimate, or correction of an error.

Restatement of opening retained earnings is required.

 

(ii) What would be the proper adjustment to the December 31, 2019, retained earnings?

Expert Solution
trending now

Trending now

This is a popular solution!

steps

Step by step

Solved in 2 steps

Blurred answer
Knowledge Booster
Accounting for Current liabilities, Provisions and Contingencies
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, accounting and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.
Similar questions
  • SEE MORE QUESTIONS
Recommended textbooks for you
Intermediate Accounting: Reporting And Analysis
Intermediate Accounting: Reporting And Analysis
Accounting
ISBN:
9781337788281
Author:
James M. Wahlen, Jefferson P. Jones, Donald Pagach
Publisher:
Cengage Learning
CONCEPTS IN FED.TAX., 2020-W/ACCESS
CONCEPTS IN FED.TAX., 2020-W/ACCESS
Accounting
ISBN:
9780357110362
Author:
Murphy
Publisher:
CENGAGE L
College Accounting (Book Only): A Career Approach
College Accounting (Book Only): A Career Approach
Accounting
ISBN:
9781337280570
Author:
Scott, Cathy J.
Publisher:
South-Western College Pub
SWFT Comprehensive Vol 2020
SWFT Comprehensive Vol 2020
Accounting
ISBN:
9780357391723
Author:
Maloney
Publisher:
Cengage
SWFT Essntl Tax Individ/Bus Entities 2020
SWFT Essntl Tax Individ/Bus Entities 2020
Accounting
ISBN:
9780357391266
Author:
Nellen
Publisher:
Cengage
Individual Income Taxes
Individual Income Taxes
Accounting
ISBN:
9780357109731
Author:
Hoffman
Publisher:
CENGAGE LEARNING - CONSIGNMENT