Concept explainers
Ethical Decision Making: A Real-Life Example
You work for a company named MCI and you have been assigned the job of adjusting the company’s Allowance for Doubtful Accounts balance. You obtained the following aged listing of customer account balances for December.
Historically,
To check the reasonableness of the calculated balance, you obtain the aged listings for prior months (shown below). As you scan the listings, you notice an interesting pattern. Several account balances, which had grown quite large by the end of November, had disappeared in the final month of the year. You ask the
Required:
- 1. Calculate the balance that should be reported in Allowance for Doubtful Accounts as of December 31.
- 2. Prepare the
adjusting journal entry that is required on December 31. - 3. Show how Accounts Receivable would be reported on the balance sheet at December 31.
- 4. If the balances for CT&T, NewTel, and Telemedia at the end of November continued to exist at the end of December (in the over-120-days category), what balance would you have estimated for the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts on December 31? Would this have changed MCI’s net income in the current year? Explain.
- 5. A few days later, you overhear Mr. Pavlo talking about the account receivable from Hi-Rim. Apparently, MCI will soon loan Hi-Rim some money, creating a note receivable. Hi-Rim will use the money to pay off the Accounts Receivable balance it owes to MCI. You are aware that Mr. Pavlo receives a bonus based on MCI’s net income. Should you investigate this matter farther? Explain why or why not.
Epilogue: The events described above are based on an article in the June 10, 2002, issue of Forbes magazine that describes how Walter Pavlo was pressured to commit accounting fraud at MCI. Ironically, MCI was later taken over by WorldCom—the company that went on to commit the world’s largest accounting fraud at the time.
Want to see the full answer?
Check out a sample textbook solutionChapter 8 Solutions
FUND.OF.FIN.ACCT.-CONNECT >CUSTOM<
- Tonis Tech Shop has total credit sales for the year of 170,000 and estimates that 3% of its credit sales will be uncollectible. Allowance for Doubtful Accounts has a credit balance of 275. Prepare the adjusting entry at year-end for the estimated bad debt expense. (a) Based on an aging of its accounts receivable, Kyles Cyclery estimates that 3,200 of its year-end accounts receivable will be uncollectible. Allowance for Doubtful Accounts has a debit balance of 280 at year-end. Prepare the adjusting entry at year-end for the estimated uncollectible accounts.arrow_forwardquestion: Record the journal entries for the bad debt expense and $50 write off from the following: A company is getting ready to publish their annual financial statements. They have the following beginning balances: Beginning balance for gross accounts receivable (A) $2,000 beginning balance for Allowance for doubtful accounts (XA) $300 They make $10,000 in credit sales in the current period. Assume that 1% of credit sales are typically not collectible. If the income statement method is used, what are the reported (a.) bad debt expense and (b.) ending balance for the allowance for doubtful accounts? please include classification of accounts and label debits and credits.arrow_forwardRequired Information [The following information applies to the questions displayed below.] Web Wizard, Incorporated, has provided information technology services for several years. For the first two months of the current year, the company has used the percentage of credit sales method to estimate bad debts. At the end of the first quarter, the company switched to the aging of accounts receivable method. The company entered into the following partial list of transactions during the first quarter. a. During January, the company provided services for $40,000 on credit. b. On January 31, the company estimated bad debts using 1 percent of credit sales. c. On February 4, the company collected $20,000 of accounts receivable. d. On February 15, the company wrote off $100 account receivable. e. During February, the company provided services for $30,000 on credit. f. On February 28, the company estimated bad debts using 1 percent of credit sales. g. On March 1, the company loaned $2,400 to an…arrow_forward
- Required information [The following information applies to the questions displayed below.] Web Wizard, Incorporated, has provided information technology services for several years. For the first two months of the current year, the company has used the percentage of credit sales method to estimate bad debts. At the end of the first quarter, the company switched to the aging of accounts receivable method. The company entered into the following partial list of transactions during the first quarter. a. During January, the company provided services for $44,000 on credit. b. On January 31, the company estimated bad debts using 1 percent of credit sales. c. On February 4, the company collected $22,000 of accounts receivable. d. On February 15, the company wrote off $150 account receivable. e. During February, the company provided services for $34,000 on credit. f. On February 28, the company estimated bad debts using 1 percent of credit sales. g. On March 1, the company loaned $2,200 to an…arrow_forwardRequired information [The following information applies to the questions displayed below.] Web Wizard, Incorporated, has provided information technology services for several years. For the first two months of the current year, the company has used the percentage of credit sales method to estimate bad debts. At the end of the first quarter, the company switched to the aging of accounts receivable method. The company entered into the following partial list of transactions during the first quarter. a. During January, the company provided services for $46,000 on credit. b. On January 31, the company estimated bad debts using 1 percent of credit sales. c. On February 4, the company collected $23,000 of accounts receivable. d. On February 15, the company wrote off $100 account receivable. e. During February, the company provided services for $36,000 on credit. f. On February 28, the company estimated bad debts using 1 percent of credit sales. g. On March 1, the company loaned $2,400 to an…arrow_forwardRequired information [The following information applies to the questions displayed below.] Web Wizard, Inc., has provided information technology services for several years. For the first two months of the current year, the company has used the percentage of credit sales method to estimate bad debts. At the end of the first quarter, the company switched to the aging of accounts receivable method. The company entered into the following partial list of transactions during the first quarter. a. During January, the company provided services for $44,000 on credit. b. On January 31, the company estimated bad debts using 1 percent of credit sales. c. On February 4, the company collected $22,000 of accounts receivable. d. On February 15, the company wrote off a $150 account receivable. e. During February, the company provided services for $34,000 on credit. f. On February 28, the company estimated bad debts using 1 percent of credit sales. g. On March 1, the company loaned $2,200 to an…arrow_forward
- You joined Henderson Technology Limited as accounting manager recently. In a management meeting, William Buckle, the managing director, expressed his concern on an amount due from Hunters Limited, which is long overdue and is unlikely to be recoverable. In a review of the aged debtors report, you found that over 40% of the debtors have overdue accounts. You also noted that there is no control system in place. You believe a better credit control system would help. You are required to prepare notes for your meeting with William, to outline the objective of having a control system in place, and the key points of a credit control system that would help to reduce overdue accounts.arrow_forwardHelp During the current year, Glatras Electronics recorded credit sales of $710,000. Based on prior experience, it estimates a 4.5 percent bad debt rate on credit sales. Required: 1. Prepare journal entries for each of the following transactions. a. On October 28 of the current year, an account receivable for $2,800 from a prior year was determined to be uncollectible and was written off. b. At year-end, the appropriate bad debt expense adjustment was recorded for the current year. 2. Complete the following table, indicating the amount and effect for each transaction. Complete this question by entering your answers in the tabs below. Required 1 Required 2 Complete the following table, indicating the amount and effect for each transaction. (Indicate decreases witha minus sign.) Income from Transaction Net Sales Gross Profit Operations a. b. < Required 1arrow_forwardRequired information Skip to question [The following information applies to the questions displayed below.] Web Wizard, Incorporated, has provided information technology services for several years. For the first two months of the current year, the company has used the percentage of credit sales method to estimate bad debts. At the end of the first quarter, the company switched to the aging of accounts receivable method. The company entered into the following partial list of transactions during the first quarter. During January, the company provided services for $47,000 on credit. On January 31, the company estimated bad debts using 2 percent of credit sales. On February 4, the company collected $23,500 of accounts receivable. On February 15, the company wrote off $150 account receivable. During February, the company provided services for $37,000 on credit. On February 28, the company estimated bad debts using 2 percent of credit sales. On March 1, the company loaned $2,600 to an…arrow_forward
- Required information Skip to question [The following information applies to the questions displayed below.] Web Wizard, Inc., has provided information technology services for several years. For the first two months of the current year, the company has used the percentage of credit sales method to estimate bad debts. At the end of the first quarter, the company switched to the aging of accounts receivable method. The company entered into the following partial list of transactions during the first quarter. During January, the company provided services for $30,000 on credit. On January 31, the company estimated bad debts using 1 percent of credit sales. On February 4, the company collected $15,000 of accounts receivable. On February 15, the company wrote off a $200 account receivable. During February, the company provided services for $20,000 on credit. On February 28, the company estimated bad debts using 1 percent of credit sales. On March 1, the company loaned $2,800 to an…arrow_forwardRequired information Skip to question [The following information applies to the questions displayed below.] Web Wizard, Inc., has provided information technology services for several years. For the first two months of the current year, the company has used the percentage of credit sales method to estimate bad debts. At the end of the first quarter, the company switched to the aging of accounts receivable method. The company entered into the following partial list of transactions during the first quarter. During January, the company provided services for $30,000 on credit. On January 31, the company estimated bad debts using 1 percent of credit sales. On February 4, the company collected $15,000 of accounts receivable. On February 15, the company wrote off a $200 account receivable. During February, the company provided services for $20,000 on credit. On February 28, the company estimated bad debts using 1 percent of credit sales. On March 1, the company loaned $2,800 to an…arrow_forwardWeb Wizard, Incorporated, has provided information technology services for several years. For the first two months of the current year, the company has used the percentage of credit sales method to estimate bad debts. At the end of the first quarter, the company switched to the aging of accounts receivable method. The company entered into the following partial list of transactions during the first quarter. a. During January, the company provided services for $31,000 on credit. b. On January 31, the company estimated bad debts using 2 percent of credit sales. c. On February 4, the company collected $15,500 of accounts receivable. d. On February 15, the company wrote off $150 account receivable. e. During February, the company provided services for $21,000 on credit. f. On February 28, the company estimated bad debts using 2 percent of credit sales. g. On March 1, the company loaned $2,600 to an employee, who signed a 6% note, due in 6 months. h. On March 15, the company collected $150…arrow_forward
- College Accounting, Chapters 1-27AccountingISBN:9781337794756Author:HEINTZ, James A.Publisher:Cengage Learning,