When the shareholders of Ann Taylor Stores, a national retailer of upscale women's clothing, brought suit against company management, the company was accused of misleading investors by hiding the fact that it had accumulated huge amounts of excessive and overvalued inventory. Although the company reported disappointing results, surprising Wall Street, management denied any wrongdoing. The financial press often reports incidents where management uses inventory accounting to manipulate earnings. What are the important topics and considerations related to inventory accounting?

When the shareholders of Ann Taylor Stores, a national retailer of upscale women's clothing, brought suit against company management, the company was accused of misleading investors by hiding the fact that it had accumulated huge amounts of excessive and overvalued inventory. Although the company reported disappointing results, surprising Wall Street, management denied any wrongdoing. The financial press often reports incidents where management uses inventory accounting to manipulate earnings. What are the important topics and considerations related to inventory accounting?

Auditing: A Risk Based-Approach (MindTap Course List)

11th Edition

ISBN:9781337619455

Author:Karla M Johnstone, Audrey A. Gramling, Larry E. Rittenberg

Publisher:Karla M Johnstone, Audrey A. Gramling, Larry E. Rittenberg

Chapter11: Auditing Inventory, Goods And Services, And Accounts Payable: The Acquisition And Payment Cycle

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 28CYBK

See similar textbooks

Similar questions

I need help with this question
When the shareholders of Ann Taylor Stores, a national retailer of upscale women's clothing, brought suit against company management, the company was accused of misleading investors by hiding the fact that it had accumulated huge amounts of excessive and overvalued inventory. Although the company reported disappointing results, surprising Wall Street, management denied any wrongdoing. The financial press often reports incidents where management uses inventory accounting to manipulate earnings. What are the important topics and considerations related to inventory accounting?
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.
Which of the following is an example of “cookie jar” accounting? a) A company creates cash reserves in profitable years so the money can be used to offset poor earnings in bad years to give the impression that the company is consistently achieving earnings goals and meeting investor expectations. b)A company intentionally misapplies GAAP and, if caught, argues that the earnings effect is “immaterial” and the error is not worth correcting. c)A company takes a one-time charge against income in order to reduce assets, which results in lower expenses in the future. d) A company recognizes revenues before it is appropriate to do so.
An accounting scandal at British retailer Tesco in 2014 led to fraud charges being filed against three former employees. At the time of the fraud, Tesco suspended eight managers thought to be involved in a scheme to book revenues early and delay reporting of expenses. Such a practice would lead to overstating profits and making company performance look better than it actually was. Although criminal charges have been filed, the company did not believe that the managers benefited personally. Some managers resigned before the scandal broke feeling "...'compromised' as a financial professional." Others were "too scared to speak out because they're worried about losing their jobs and paying their mortgages." Tesco paid a fine of $162 million and compensation to shareholders as a result of the activities. In the case of Tesco, managers made choices about the timing of revenues and expenses that led to fraud charges. In order to avoid that, perhaps accountants should always assume the…
What are operations people’s primary complaints against the accounting procedures used in most firms? Explain how such procedures can cause poor decisions for the total company.
The case: In this case, a medium-sized, family-owned business suffered a significant loss of inventory due to theft by several long-time employees. Overall: Several factors played into the inventory theft, including poor internal controls, a lack of timely accounting records, and difficulty in measuring and tracking inventory items. Inventory was not reconciled or monitored for the company-owned retail outlets which enabled the misappropriated inventory to be removed from inventory records without detection. Identify and describe the followings: 1. a measure that could have prevented the theft 2. a measure that could have detected the theft 3. a step to take once fraud is suspected. My work: Internal controls are protocols and procedures used by a business to protect its assets and maintain the accuracy of its financial records. Employee theft is a common problem that can have serious consequences for businesses, with 75% of businesses being affected by it and 33% going bankrupt due to…
Can you write a reply for detect only, thank you
Firms often provide supplemental disclosures that report and discuss income figures that do not necessarily equal bottom-line net income from the income statement. For example, in Twitter’s initial public offering filings with the SEC, the company reported a net loss of $79.4 million, but prominently disclosed “adjusted EBITDA” of (positive) $21.2 million. Discuss the merits and shortcomings of this managerial practice. Please, don't copy the answer from the book, explain with your words.
XYZ Company, a medium-sized manufacturing firm, faced a significant accounting challenge in the fiscal year 2022. The company had recently implemented a new accounting software system to streamline its financial processes and enhance reporting accuracy. However, as the year progressed, several discrepancies emerged in the financial statements. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the software had glitches, leading to misclassifications of expenses, inaccurate revenue recognition, and discrepancies in inventory valuation. These errors not only impacted the accuracy of the financial statements but also raised concerns among shareholders, auditors, and regulatory authorities. The accounting team at XYZ Company had to address these issues urgently to avoid legal repercussions, maintain investor trust, and uphold financial transparency. The company's leadership faced the dilemma of whether to fix the existing software, revert to the previous system temporarily, or explore…
How can adjustments to the standardized financial statements be made in order to undo these distortions? Accounting distortions: Accounting distortions refer to the concept of any sort of difference between the information or evaluation made regarding the financial statement than the real-time data of the business. The most common types of accounting distortions are as follows: Data entry errors: It occurs when there are mistakes or misstatements in the data entry system of the company. For example, entering items in the wrong account, transposing numbers, leaving out or adding a digit or a decimal place, treating expenses as income, or vice versa. The error of omission: It involves an error that occurs when one fails or forgets to make any entry. For example, failure to record any notes received. The error of commission: It involves mishandling of any entry by recording it in the wrong books or with the wrong place The error of transposition: It is the error of…
What happens when the ending inventory is misstated (over- and understated specifically) and how it affects the corporate financials?