In the given scenario a division in a decentralised company earned the largest amount of income from operations, yet it was the least profitable.
This can be as a result of the cost allocation method the company uses.
If the company uses a cost allocation method where cost from other division is paid for by the division with largest income. The result will be that the other divisions that generate less income will appear to be more profitable.
The remedy for this is to use activity based costing. Where cost is allocated based on the level of activity of a division.
That way divisions will only pay for cost associated with their activity
The answer is the decline stage. The decline stage of a product life cycle happens when sales drop which may be in arrears in large part to new technologies or innovations that replace existing as was the case with analog television sets. Digital technologies directed to the progress of standard which is high definition then 3D HDTV and now organic light-emitting diode 3D smart HDTVs.
Financial statements are prepared showing at least two years for the sake of comparability.
It will be important for the company in presenting its financial statement using the IFRS for the year ended December 31st 2018 to show the financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2017 as if it had always applied the IFRS.
The basic idea is to show in the financial statements the effects of adopting the IFRS from a preceding period in order for the entity to show the financial statement for 2017 and 2018 and be able to compare them having been prepared on the same basis.
Thus, the transition date will be the beginning of the preceding period when the IFRS was applied (1st Jan. 2017 oe 31st Dec. 2016).
I hope this explanation makes the concept easy to grasp.