Anton Blair is the manager of a medium-size company. A few years ago, Blair persuaded the owner to base a part of his compensation on the net income the company earns each year. Each December he estimates year-end financial figures in anticipation of the bonus he will receive. If the bonus is not as high as he would like, he offers several recommendations to the accountant for year-end adjustments. One of his favorite recommendations is for the controller to reduce the estimate of doubtful accounts.
Required
1. What effect does lowering the estimate for doubtful accounts have on the income statement and balance sheet?
2. Do you believe Blair’s recommendation to adjust the allowance for doubtful accounts is within his rights as manager, or do you believe this action is an ethics violation? Justify your response.
3. What type of internal control(s) might be useful for this company in overseeing the manager’s recommendations for accounting changes?
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 7 Solutions
Loose-Leaf for Financial and Managerial Accounting
- Between the end of one month and the 15th day of the next month, the balance in the employers business bank account has been getting smaller and smaller. An employee prepares the next payroll and correctly computes the necessary withholding taxes. The employer is supposed to pay accumulated employment taxes on the 15th of the next month. Payday is the last day of the month. However, the employer has used the funds withheld from employees to pay some of the businesss bills. He hopes that enough of the customers who owe him money will pay their outstanding debts. If his assumption is true, the checking account will have enough in it to pay the federal deposit on the 15th of the month. Is the employer acting ethically? After all, he says he intends to have enough money in the account for the deposit. Explain your answer.arrow_forwardYour client is preparing financial statements to show the bank. You know that he has incurred a refrigeration repair expense during the month, but you see no such expense on the books. When you question the client, he tells you that he has not yet paid the 1,255 bill. Your client is on the accrual basis of accounting. He does not want the refrigeration repair expense on the books as of the end of the month because he wants his profits to look good for the bank. Is your client behaving ethically by suggesting that the refrigeration repair expense not be booked until the 1,255 is paid? Are you behaving ethically if you agree to the clients request? What principle is involved here?arrow_forwardThe manager of the Danvers-Hilton Resort Hotel stated that the mean guest bill for a weekend is 600 or less. A member of the hotels accounting staff noticed that the total charges for guest bills have been increasing in recent months. The accountant will use a sample of future weekend guest bills to test the managers claim. a. Which form of the hypotheses should be used to test the managers claim? Explain. H0:600H0:600H0:=600Ha:600Ha:600Ha:600 b. What conclusion is appropriate when H0 cannot be rejected? c. What conclusion is appropriate when H0 can be rejected?arrow_forward
- It is the end of 2019 and you are an accountant for Stone Company. During 2019, sales of the companys products slumped and the companys earnings are expected to be much less than those of 2018. The president comes to you with an idea. He says, Our companys property, plant, and equipment cost 300,000, and that is the amount we usually report on our balance sheet. However, I just had these assets appraised by an independent appraiser, and she says they are worth 400,000. I think that the company should report the property, plant, and equipment at this amount on its December 31, 2019, balance sheet and should report the 100,000 increase in value as a gain on the 2019 income statement. If we use this approach, it will show how much our company is really worth and increase our earnings. This will make our shareholders happy. What do you think? Required: Prepare a written response to the president.arrow_forwardMalone Industries has been in business for five years and has been very successful. In the past year, it expanded operations by buying Hot Metal Manufacturing for a price greater than the value of the net assets purchased. In the past year, the customer base has expanded much more than expected, and the companys owners want to increase the goodwill account. Your CPA firm has been hired to help Malone prepare year-end financial statements, and your boss has asked you to talk to Malones managers about goodwill and whether an adjustment can be made to the goodwill account. How do you respond to the owners and managers?arrow_forwardCoutures Creations is considering offering Joe, an hourly employee, the opportunity to become a salaried employee. Why is this a good idea for Coutures Creations? Is this a good idea for Joe? What if Coutures Creations entices Joe to agree to the change by offering him a salaried position with no risk of layoff during the winter lull? What if Joe agrees and Coutures Creations lays him off anyway six months into the agreement?arrow_forward
- Margaret is the manager of a medium-sized company. A few years ago, Margaret persuaded the owner to base a part of her compensation on the net income of the company. Each December she estimates year-end financial figures in anticipation of the bonus she will receive. If the bonus is not as high as she would like, she offers several recommendations to the accountant for year-end adjustments. One of her favorite recommendations is for the controller to reduce the estimate of doubtful accounts. What effect does lowering the estimate for doubtful accounts have on the income statement and balance sheet? What type of internal control(s) might be useful for this company in overseeing the manager's recommendation for accounting changes?arrow_forwardMargaret is the manager of a medium-size company. A few years ago, Margaret persuaded the owner to base a part of her compensation on the net income of the company. Each December she estimates year-end financial figures in anticipation of the bonus she will receive. If the bonus is not as high as she would like, she offers several recommendations to the accountant for year-end adjustments. One of her favorite recommendations is for the controller to reduce the estimate of doubtful accounts. What type of internal control(s) might be useful for this company in overseeing the manager's recommendation for accounting changes?arrow_forwardTonya Latirno is a staff accountant for Cannally and Kennedy, a local CPA firm. For the past 10 years, the firm has given employees a year-end bonus equal to two weeks’ salary.On November 15, the firm’s management team announced that there would be no annual bonus this year. Because of the firm’s long history of giving a year-end bonus, Tonya and her coworkers had come to expect the bonus and believed that Cannally and Kennedy had breached an implicit agreement by discontinuing the bonus. As a result, Tonya decided thatshe would make up for the lost bonus by working an extra six hours of overtime per week for the rest of the year. Cannally and Kennedy’s policy is to pay overtime at 150% of straight time.Tonya’s supervisor was surprised to see overtime being reported, because there is generally very little additional or unusual client service demands at the end of the calendar year. However, the overtime was not questioned, because employees are on the “honor system” in reporting their…arrow_forward
- Paul Howard, the new plant manager of Garden Scapes Manufacturing Plant Number 7, has just reviewed a draft of his year-end financial statements. Howard receives a year-end bonus of 11.5% of the plant’s operating income before tax. The year-end income statement provided by the plant’s controller was disappointing to say the least. After reviewing the numbers, Howard demanded that his controller go back and “work the numbers” again. Howard insisted that if he didn’t see a better operating income number the next time around he would be forced to look for a new controller. Garden Scapes Manufacturing classifies all costs directly related to the manufacturing of its product as product costs. These costs are inventoried and later expensed as costs of goods sold when the product is sold. All other expenses, including finished-goods warehousing costs of $3,640,000, are classified as period expenses. Howard had suggested that warehousing costs be included as product costs because they are…arrow_forwardYou have recently been hired as the assistant controller for Stanton Temperton Corporation, which rents building space in major metropolitan areas. Customers are required to pay six months of rent in advance. At the end of 2021, the company’s president, Jim Temperton, notices that net income has fallen compared to last year. In 2020, the company reported pretax profit of $330,000, but in 2021 the pretax profit is only $280,000. This concerns Jim for two reasons. First, his year-end bonus is tied directly to pretax profits. Second, shareholders may see a decline in profitability as a weakness in the company and begin to sell their stock. With the sell-off of stock, Jim’s personal investment in the company’s stock, as well as his companyoperated retirement plan, will be in jeopardy of severe losses. After close inspection of the financial statements, Jim notices that the balance of the Deferred Revenue account is $120,000. This amount represents payments in advance from long-term…arrow_forwardTonya Latirno is a staff accountant for Cannally and Kennedy, a local CPA firm. For the past 10 years, the firm has given employees a year-end bonus equal to two weeks' salary. On November 15, the firm's management team announced that there would be no annual bonus this year. Because of the firm's long history of giving a year-end bonus, Tonya and her co-workers had come to expect the bonus and felt that Cannally and Kennedy had breached an implicit agreement by discontinuing the bonus. As a result, Tonya decided that she would make up for the lost bonus by working an extra six hours of overtime per week for the rest of the year. Cannally and Kennedy's policy is to pay overtime at 150% of straight time. Tonya's supervisor was surprised to see overtime being reported, because there is generally very little additional or unusual client service demands at the end of the calendar year. However, the overtime was not questioned, because employees are on the “honor system” in reporting their…arrow_forward
- Principles of Accounting Volume 1AccountingISBN:9781947172685Author:OpenStaxPublisher:OpenStax CollegeEssentials of Business Analytics (MindTap Course ...StatisticsISBN:9781305627734Author:Jeffrey D. Camm, James J. Cochran, Michael J. Fry, Jeffrey W. Ohlmann, David R. AndersonPublisher:Cengage LearningIndividual Income TaxesAccountingISBN:9780357109731Author:HoffmanPublisher:CENGAGE LEARNING - CONSIGNMENT