An accounting intern for a local CPA firm was reviewing the financial statements of a client in the electronics industry. The intern noticed that the client used the FIFO method of determining ending inventory and cost of goods sold. When she asked a colleague why the firm used FIFO instead of LIFO, she was told that the client used FIFO to minimize its income tax liability. This response puzzled the intern because she thought that LIFO would minimize income tax liability. Required: What would you tell the intern to resolve the confusion?

An accounting intern for a local CPA firm was reviewing the financial statements of a client in the electronics industry. The intern noticed that the client used the FIFO method of determining ending inventory and cost of goods sold. When she asked a colleague why the firm used FIFO instead of LIFO, she was told that the client used FIFO to minimize its income tax liability. This response puzzled the intern because she thought that LIFO would minimize income tax liability. Required: What would you tell the intern to resolve the confusion?

Individual Income Taxes

43rd Edition

ISBN:9780357109731

Author:Hoffman

Publisher:Hoffman

Chapter1: An Introduction To Taxation And Understanding The Federal Tax Law

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 6DQ: Jane, a tax practitioner, has reviewed the law on how State Xs income tax applies to a clients...

See similar textbooks

Similar questions

You are the financial officer for Music Plus, a retailer that sells goods for home entertainment needs. The business owner, Vic Velakturi, recently reviewed the annual financial statements you prepared and sent you an e-mail stating that he thinks you overstated net income. He explains that although he has invested a great deal in security, he is sure shoplifting and other forms of inventory shrinkage have occurred, but he does not see any deduction for shrinkage on the income statement. The store uses a perpetual inventory system. Required Prepare a brief memorandum that responds to the owner’s concerns.
Peter Pan is a young accountant who came from a poor family. He was recently hired by a big company called PetraPak. When it was time to audit the accounting books of the company, Peter was instructed by his boss to manipulate the numbers in order to reduce the taxes expense the company will have to pay the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The company official said that if he would not heed the command, he would be terminated. The employment condition that time was really tight and the chance of finding another job is very minimal. Question: If you were Peter Pan, will you obey your boss? Why? Or why not?
Suppose that a company called Futuristics, Inc hires you to work in Supply Cha Management. Your new manager sets up a meeting to discuss the Surfers, Inc. account. The meeting opens with the manager stating, "I just reviewed the financial report on Surfers, Inc. It really doesn't cost much to serve them, does i Which of the following would be an appropriate response to the manager's statement? Traditional accounting methods are perfect to help us make decisions about serving the Surfers, Inc. account Activity-based costing would be better to report the Surfers, Inc. results to the financial community Traditional cost accounting gives us a good measure for comparing by customer Activity-based costing could better show us how much it really costs to serve Surfers, Inc. Activity-based costing takes depreciation into account to enable us to know when to replace machinery
Accounts receivable, December 31 Cost of goods sold Accounts payable, January 1 Accounts payable, December 31 Finished-goods inventory, December 31 Gross margin Work-in-process inventory, January 1 Work-in-process inventory, December 31 Finished-goods inventory, January 1 Direct materials used Direct manufacturing labor Manufacturing overhead costs Purchases of direct materials Revenues Accounts receivable, January 1 $ Case 2 Case 1 (in thousands) 7,000 $4,210 A 33,000 4,300 2,590 2,400 4,050 B 8,200 18,500 4,000 0 4,000 10,000 $5,000 7,200 14,800 46,000 3,400 с 700 4,200 10,000 23,000 7,800 D 14,500 54,900 2,500
B. Harper is surfing the Internet and finds a great pair of rollerblades at a really low price, but he has never heard of the company and is concerned that the product he ordered may not be the product he receives. Harper may be more willing to place an order with this company ifa. The website displays the WebTrust seal.b. The company provides its annual report and the report of the independent auditors on its website.c. The company provides a money-back guarantee.d. Only a partial payment is required prior to receiving the product.
c. Intuit Inc. develops tax preparation software that it sells to its customers for a flat fee. No further Explain when each of the following businesses fulfills the performance obligations implicit in the sales b. Oracle Corp. develops general ledger and other business application software that it sells to its E5-34. a. RealMoney.Com, a division of TheStreet Inc., provides investment advice to customers for an up front fee. It provides these customers with password-protected access to its website, where they 01 Assessing Revenue Recognition Timing and Income Measurem contract and recognizes revenue. Identify any revenue measurement ISsues that could arise can download investment reports. RealMoney has an obligation to provide updates on its they customers. The customer pays an up-front fee for the right to use the software and a monthly its support services. payment is required, and the software cannot be returned, only exchanged if defective. d. Electronic Arts develops and sells…
You have been hired as a consultant by a parts manufacturing firm to provide advice as to the proper accountingmethods the company should use in some key areas. In the area of receivables, the company president does notunderstand your recommendation to use the allowance method for uncollectible accounts. She stated, “Financial statements should be based on objective data rather than the guesswork required for the allowance method.Besides, since my uncollectibles are fairly constant from period to period, with significant variations occurringinfrequently, the direct write-off method is just as good as the allowance method.”Required:Draft a one-page response in the form of a memo to the president in support of your recommendation for the company to use the allowance method.
You are an accounting student at Berkeley College and will not graduate for another year. But because of your excellent grades so far, you have been able to land a job in the purchasing department of a retailer. One of the purchasing agents in your company is negotiating for the receipt of a very large order of uninsured goods from a supplier. The purchasing agent is able to get a better deal on the goods if they are shipped FOB shipping point rather than FOB destination. The agent doesn’t know the difference between these two concepts. He also doesn’t understand why choosing one over the other should make any difference to the company. As a student of accounting at Berkeley College, you know well the difference between these 2 concepts and you know why one would be a better choice over the other in the case of uninsured goods. Please explain these two concepts in this discussion and tell the purchasing agent which shipping method is preferable and why.
This is a repost. Please read questions carefully as original response was entirely incorrect
The Bingabong CPA firm is swamped with work and is considering doing some outsourcing of tax work to a third-party service provider (TSP). Which of the following is an accurate statement regarding its responsibilities? Group of answer choices a. Outsourcing work to TSPs can threaten independence, but not objectivity or integrity. b. Outsourcing work to TSPs that provide only administrative support will likely not threaten objectivity and/or integrity. c. If Bingabong uses TSPs to perform substantive services and those TSPs are reputable, it need not inform clients before sharing confidential client information with the TSPs. d. If a client objects to Bingabong outsourcing services, Bingabong should investigate whether the client has legitimate grounds before proceeding.
6) Harriet has been reviewing the accounting system for her company and she is very concerned about the accounting for spoilage. It appears that spoilage is accounted for only at the end of the processing cycle. While this concept is acceptable in general, Harriet believes that a better method can be found to properly account for the spoilage when it occurs. She believes that there must be something better than the weighted-average method of accounting for spoilage. She would like the company to use a method that provides closer tracking of the spoilage with the accounting for the spoilage.Required:Discuss the problems Harriet is having with the accounting system.
Which of the following is an example of fraudulent financial reporting? a. The treasurer diverts customer payments to his personal due, concealing his actions by debiting an expense account, thus overstating expenses. O b. An employee steals inventory and the "shrinkage" is recorded in cost of goods sold. O c. Company management changes inventory count tags and overstates ending inventory, while understating cost of goods sold. O d. An employee steals small tools from the company and neglects to return them; the cost is reported as a miscellaneous operating expense.