Concept explainers
Ethics and Revenue Recognition
Alan Spalding is CEO of a large appliance wholesaler. Alan is under pressure from Wall Street Analysts to meet his aggressive sales revenue growth projections. Unfortunately, near the end of the year he realizes that sales must dramatically improve if his projections are going to be met. To accomplish this objective, he orders his sales force to contact their largest customers and offer them price discounts if they buy by the end of the year. Alan also offered to deliver the merchandise to a third-party warehouse with whom the customers could arrange delivery when the merchandise was needed.
Required:
Do you believe that revenue from these sales should be recognized in the current year? Why or why not?
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Cornerstones of Financial Accounting
- Codification Situation You are conducting an accounting research project for your boss. Your boss has asked you to determine the appropriate U.S. GAAP that specifies how your company should recognize revenues from the sales of products in a retail store. Your boss is confused because most customers pay cash, but some customers purchase on credit terms, and pay in cash 30 days later. Your manager also wants you to determine the GAAP guidance for how revenue should be recognized in income. Your manager has a lot of knowledge and experience in accounting and has heard about, but has never used, the FASB Accounting Standards Codification system. Directions Use the FASB Accounting Standards Codification system to conduct the research your manager has assigned to you. Use the Codification to determine how to recognize revenue from retail sales, including the right to return. Be prepared to show your manager the specific FASB ASC references that provide the appropriate guidance. Also prepare a brief memo explaining to your manager the different levels of the Codification and how to use the Codification system.arrow_forwardBannister Company, an electronics firm, buys circuit boards and manually inserts various electronic devices into the printed circuit board. Bannister sells its products to original equipment manufacturers. Profits for the last two years have been less than expected. Mandy Confer, owner of Bannister, was convinced that her firm needed to adopt a revenue growth and cost reduction strategy to increase overall profits. After a careful review of her firms condition, Mandy realized that the main obstacle for increasing revenues and reducing costs was the high defect rate of her products (a 6 percent reject rate). She was certain that revenues would grow if the defect rate was reduced dramatically. Costs would also decline as there would be fewer rejects and less rework. By decreasing the defect rate, customer satisfaction would increase, causing, in turn, an increase in market share. Mandy also felt that the following actions were needed to help ensure the success of the revenue growth and cost reduction strategy: a. Improve the soldering capabilities by sending employees to an outside course. b. Redesign the insertion process to eliminate some of the common mistakes. c. Improve the procurement process by selecting suppliers that provide higher-quality circuit boards. Required: 1. State the revenue growth and cost reduction strategy using a series of cause-and-effect relationships expressed as if-then statements. 2. Illustrate the strategy using a strategy map. 3. Explain how the revenue growth strategy can be tested. In your explanation, discuss the role of lead and lag measures, targets, and double-loop feedback.arrow_forwardGlencoe First National Bank operated for years under the assumption that profitability can be increased by increasing dollar volumes. Historically, First Nationals efforts were directed toward increasing total dollars of sales and total dollars of account balances. In recent years, however, First Nationals profits have been eroding. Increased competition, particularly from savings and loan institutions, was the cause of the difficulties. As key managers discussed the banks problems, it became apparent that they had no idea what their products were costing. Upon reflection, they realized that they had often made decisions to offer a new product which promised to increase dollar balances without any consideration of what it cost to provide the service. After some discussion, the bank decided to hire a consultant to compute the costs of three products: checking accounts, personal loans, and the gold VISA. The consultant identified the following activities, costs, and activity drivers (annual data): The following annual information on the three products was also made available: In light of the new cost information, Larry Roberts, the bank president, wanted to know whether a decision made two years ago to modify the banks checking account product was sound. At that time, the service charge was eliminated on accounts with an average annual balance greater than 1,000. Based on increases in the total dollars in checking, Larry was pleased with the new product. The checking account product is described as follows: (1) checking account balances greater than 500 earn interest of 2 percent per year, and (2) a service charge of 5 per month is charged for balances less than 1,000. The bank earns 4 percent on checking account deposits. Fifty percent of the accounts are less than 500 and have an average balance of 400 per account. Ten percent of the accounts are between 500 and 1,000 and average 750 per account. Twenty-five percent of the accounts are between 1,000 and 2,767; the average balance is 2,000. The remaining accounts carry a balance greater than 2,767. The average balance for these accounts is 5,000. Research indicates that the 2,000 category was by far the greatest contributor to the increase in dollar volume when the checking account product was modified two years ago. Required: 1. Calculate rates for each activity. 2. Using the rates computed in Requirement 1, calculate the cost of each product. 3. Evaluate the checking account product. Are all accounts profitable? Compute the average annual profitability per account for the four categories of accounts described in the problem. What recommendations would you make to increase the profitability of the checking account product? (Break-even analysis for the unprofitable categories may be helpful.)arrow_forward
- You are the bookkeeper at a small merchandising firm. You are comparing the income statements from the last three years. You notice that the Purchases Returns and Allowances account (as a percentage of net sales) has been increasing at an alarming rate. If you were a manager, to whom would you speak in the organization to help you understand why so much merchandise is being returned? What types of questions would you ask?arrow_forwardApplying ethical standards, management accountability Ava Borzi is the new controller for Halo Software, Inc. which develops and sells education software. Shortly before the December 31 fiscal year-end, Jeremy Busch, the company president, asks Borzi how things look for the year-end numbers. He is not happy to learn that earnings growth may be below 9% for the first time in the company’s five-year history. Busch explains that financial analysts have again predicted a 9% earnings growth for the company and that he does not intend to disappoint them. He suggests that Borzi talks to the assistant controller, who can explain how the previous controller dealt with such situations. The assistant controller suggests the following strategies: Persuade suppliers to postpone billing $18,000 in invoices until January 1. Record as sales $120,000 in certain software awaiting sale that is held in a public warehouse. Delay the year-end closing a few days into January of the next year so that some of…arrow_forwardApplying ethical standards, management accountability Ava Borzi is the new controller for Halo Software, Inc. which develops and sells education software. Shortly before the December 31 fiscal year-end, Jeremy Busch, the company president, asks Borzi how things look for the year-end numbers. He is not happy to learn that earnings growth may be below 9% for the first time in the company’s five-year history. Busch explains that financial analysts have again predicted a 9% earnings growth for the company and that he does not intend to disappoint them. He suggests that Borzi talk to the assistant controller, who can explain how the previous controller dealt with such situations. The assistant controller suggests the following strategies: a. Persuade suppliers to postpone billing $18,000 in invoices until January 1. b. Record as sales $120,000 in certain software awaiting sale that is held in a public warehouse. c. Delay the year-end closing a few days into January of the next year so that…arrow_forward
- Ethics and the Manager Richmond. Inc., operates a chain of 44 department stores. Two years ago, the board of directors of Richmond approved a large-scale remodeling of its stores to attract a more upscale clientele. Before finalizing these plans, two stores were remodeled as a test. Linda Perlman, assistant controller, was asked to oversee the financial reporting for these test stores, and she and other management personnel were offered bonuses based on the sales growth and profitability of these stores. While completing the financial reports. Perlman discovered a sizable inventory of outdated goods that should have been discounted for sale or returned to the manufacturer. She discussed the situation with her management colleagues; the consensus was to ignore reporting this inventory as obsolete because reporting it would diminish the financial results and their bonuses. Required: 1. According to the IMA’s Statement of Ethical Professional Practice, would it be ethical for Perlman not…arrow_forwardManagerial Accounting: An Overview Ethics and the Manager Richmond, Inc., operates a chain of 44 department stores. Two years ago, the board of directors of Richmond approved a large-scale remodelling of its stores to attract a more upscale clientele. Before finalizing these plans, two stores were remodelled as a test. Linda Perlman, assistant controller, was asked to oversee the financial reporting for these test stores, and she and other management personnel were offered bonuses based on the sales growth and profitability of these stores. While completing the financial reports, Perlman discovered a sizable inventory of outdated goods that should have been discounted for sale or returned to the manufacturer. She discussed the situation with her management colleagues; the consensus was to ignore reporting this inventory as obsolete because reporting it would diminish the financial results and their bonuses. Required: 1. According to the IMA’s Statement of Ethical Professional Practice,…arrow_forwardParty-Time T-Shirts sells T-shirts for parties at the local college. The company com plated the first year of operations, and the shareholders are generally pleased with operating results as shown by the following income statement: Bill Hildebrand, the controller, is considering how to expand the business. He proposes two ways to increase profits to $100,000 during 2018. a. Hildebrand believes he should advertise more heavily. He believes additional advertising costing 320,000 will increase net sales by 30% and leave administrative expense unchanged. Assume that Cost of Goods Sold will remain at the same percentage of net sales as in 2017, so if net sales increase in 2018, Cost of Goods Sold will increase proportionately. b. Hildebrand proposes selling higher-margin merchandise, such as party dresses, in addition to the existing product line. An importer can supply a minimum of 1,000 dresses for $40 each; Party-Time can mark these dresses up 100% and sell them for $80. Hildebrand…arrow_forward
- Halston Toy Manufacturing Co. introduced a number of new products in the last quarter of the year. The company has a liberal return policy allowing retail customers to return products within 120 days of purchase. a. Describe the audit problem indicated by this scenario. b. List audit procedures that could be used to audit the allowance for sales returns.arrow_forwardEthics in Action Margie Johnson is a staff accountant at ToolEx Company, a manufacturer of tools and equipment. The company is under pressure from investors to increase earnings, and the president of the company expects the accounting department to “make this happen.” Margie's boss, who has been a mentor to her, is concerned that if earnings do not increase, he will be terminated. Shortly after the end of the fiscal year, the company performs a physical count of the inventory. When Margie compares the physical count to the balance in the inventory account, she finds a significant amount of inventory shrinkage. The amount is so large that it will result in a significant drop in earnings this period. Margie's boss asks her not to make the adjusting entry for shrinkage this period. He assures her that they will get “caught up” on shrinkage in the next period, after the pressure is off to reach this period's earnings goal. Margie's boss asks her to do this as a personal favor to him.…arrow_forwardYou are a financial adviser with a client in the wholesale produce business that just completed its first year of operations. Due to weather conditions, the cost of acquiring produce to resell has escalated during the latter part of this period. Your client, Javonte Gish, mentions that because her business sells perishable goods, she has striven to maintain a FIFO flow of goods. Although sales are good, the increasing cost of inventory has put the business in a tight cash position. Gish has expressed concern regarding the ability of the business to meet income tax obligations. Required Prepare a memorandum that identifies, explains, and justifies the inventory method you recommend that Ms. Gish adopt.arrow_forward
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