Question

Lisi Crichton operates a variety store. Her brother does custom welding and made some racks to hold videos. Lisi gave her brother $5,000 cash and did not get a bill. A similar rack was on display at a department store for $1,000. You are told to book an expense on the company financial statement for $5000. What will you book the amount for?

Answer 1

Answer:

$1,000

Explanation:

Fixed assets must be recorded at historic cost or purchase value. Their valuation is not affected by changes in market values, e.g. land might appreciate over time, but its historic cost will be used for accounting purposes.

In this case, Lisi doesn't have a bill to show the price of the rack, and since she paid in cash, she has no way of proving what she actually paid for it. In this case, in order to record the purchase of the rack you must use the fair market value of similar racks.

Imagine if someone could just say that they purchased things at X price but didn't get a bill, soon people would be recording buying pencils at $500 each because they are gorgeous and perfectly crafted.