Question

On November 1, Year One, a company is paid $12,000 in advance to do a job for a customer. The job has ten separate steps. The first four steps were completed in Year One and the remaining six steps were completed in Year Two. The accountant mistakenly believed that this was just one big job and recorded it in that fashion. However, each of the ten steps was really an individual job and should have been accounted for in that way. Which of the following statements is true?
a. At the end of Year One, the company's liabilities are understated.
b. At the end of Year Two, the company's assets are overstated.
c. At the end of Year Two, the company's retained earnings are overstated.
d. At the end of Year One, the company's retained earnings are understated.
e. At the end of Year Two, the company's net income is understated.

Answer 1

Answer: a. At the end of Year One, the company's liabilities are understated.

Explanation:

Under the Accrual basis of Accounting, revenue should be recorded for only jobs that have been completed. In other words, only earned revenue should be recorded. Revenue that has not been earned but yet received, is to be termed Deferred revenue and should be treated as a current liability.

In this scenario, there are steps that have not been completed so some of the revenue received should be termed deferred revenue. These should therefore be in current liabilities and because they were not, the liabilities for the end of year 1 will be understated.