Question

The four underlying assumptions of generally accepted accounting principles are economic entity, monetary unit, periodicity, and going concern. Consider the four independent situations below.
1. Jumbo's is a local restaurant. Due to a bad shipment of potatoes, several of the company's customers become ill, and the company receives considerable bad publicity. Revenues are way down, several of its bills are past due, and the company is making plans to close the restaurant at the end of the month. The company continues to report its assets in the balance sheet at historical (original) cost.

2. Gorloks Tax Services is owned and operated by Sam Martin. The company has the usual business assets: land, building, cash, equipment, and supplies. In addition, Sam decides to buy a boat for him and his family to enjoy on the weekends. Sam includes the boat as an asset on the balance sheet of Gorloks Tax Services.

3. Claim Jumpers International, a U.S.-based company, has operations in the United States and in Europe. For the current year, the company purchased two trucks in the United States for $10,000 and three trucks in Europe for €20,000 (euros). Because of the differences in currencies, the company reported "Five Trucks" with no corresponding amount in the balance sheet.

4. Cobbers Etc. sells specialty music equipment ranging from African bongo drums to grand pianos. Because of the fluctuating nature of the business, management decides to publish financial statements only when a substantial amount of activity has taken place. Its last set of financial statements covered a period of 14 months, and the set of financial statements before that covered a period of 18 months.

Required:

For each situation, select which of the underlying assumptions of GAAP is violated.

Answer 1

Answer:

1. Going concern

2. Economic entity

3. Monetary unit

4. Periodicitys

Explanation:

1. Since Jumbo's Restaurant is planning to close, the assumption of continuity (going concern) is no more applicable. This should be disclosed. Instead asset was still recorded at historical price which is misleading.

2. Gorloks Tax Services is an economic entity, and the property and assets of owners are not considered to be for the business. In this case the boat Sam bought was wrongly reported as an asset of the company.

3. Claim Jumpers when reporting the 5 trucks purchased must include a monetary value for them. The assumption of monetary unit states that all items reported on the balance sheet must be expressed in monetary terms.

4. Cobbler's Etc violated the assumption of periodicity which states the financial position of the business must be declared in a particular accounting period. Accounting period can monthly, quarterly, biannually, and yearly. The business should choose and accounting period and ensure financial position is reported for each of them. In this case financial reporting is not consistent with reporting happening after 14 months and before that 18 months.