At a recent luncheon, you were seated next to Mr. Hopkins, the president of a local company that manufactures bicycle parts. He heard that you were a CPA and made the following comments to you: Why is it that I am forced to recognize depreciation expense in my company’s income statement when I know that I could sell many of my assets for more than I paid for them? I thought that the purpose of the balance sheet was to reflect the value of my business and that the purpose of the income statement was to report the net change in value or wealth of a company. It just doesn’t make sense to penalize my profits when there hasn’t been any loss in value from using the assets. At the conclusion of the luncheon, you promised to send him a short explanation of the rationale for current depreciation practices. Required: Prepare a letter to Mr. Hopkins. Explain the accounting concept of depreciation and include a brief example in your explanation showing that over the life of the asset the change in value approach to depreciation and the allocation of cost approach will result in the same total effect on income.

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
10th Edition
ISBN:9781259964947
Author:Libby
Publisher:Libby
Chapter1: Financial Statements And Business Decisions
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 1Q
icon
Related questions
Question

At a recent luncheon, you were seated next to Mr. Hopkins, the president of a local company that manufactures bicycle parts. He heard that you were a CPA and made the following comments to you: Why is it that I am forced to recognize depreciation expense in my company’s income statement when I know that I could sell many of my assets for more than I paid for them? I thought that the purpose of the balance sheet was to reflect the value of my business and that the purpose of the income statement was to report the net change in value or wealth of a company. It just doesn’t make sense to penalize my profits when there hasn’t been any loss in value from using the assets. At the conclusion of the luncheon, you promised to send him a short explanation of the rationale for current depreciation practices. Required: Prepare a letter to Mr. Hopkins. Explain the accounting concept of depreciation and include a brief example in your explanation showing that over the life of the asset the change in value approach to depreciation and the allocation of cost approach will result in the same total effect on income.

Expert Solution
trending now

Trending now

This is a popular solution!

steps

Step by step

Solved in 2 steps with 1 images

Blurred answer
Knowledge Booster
Relevant cost analysis
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
Recommended textbooks for you
FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
Accounting
ISBN:
9781259964947
Author:
Libby
Publisher:
MCG
Accounting
Accounting
Accounting
ISBN:
9781337272094
Author:
WARREN, Carl S., Reeve, James M., Duchac, Jonathan E.
Publisher:
Cengage Learning,
Accounting Information Systems
Accounting Information Systems
Accounting
ISBN:
9781337619202
Author:
Hall, James A.
Publisher:
Cengage Learning,
Horngren's Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis…
Horngren's Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis…
Accounting
ISBN:
9780134475585
Author:
Srikant M. Datar, Madhav V. Rajan
Publisher:
PEARSON
Intermediate Accounting
Intermediate Accounting
Accounting
ISBN:
9781259722660
Author:
J. David Spiceland, Mark W. Nelson, Wayne M Thomas
Publisher:
McGraw-Hill Education
Financial and Managerial Accounting
Financial and Managerial Accounting
Accounting
ISBN:
9781259726705
Author:
John J Wild, Ken W. Shaw, Barbara Chiappetta Fundamental Accounting Principles
Publisher:
McGraw-Hill Education