Accounting Disclosure And Economic Benefits -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Accounting Disclosure And Economic Benefits? Answer: Introducation In accordance with annual report of the company for the financial year ending 30th of June 2017, following are the assets that the company has tested for the impairment loss or impairment charges if any during the period: Property Plant and Equipment Goodwill Loans and Advances Financial Instruments Other Intangible assets like computer software, core deposits, customer relationship, other acquired intangibles and trustee license. Other assets including accrued income, repayments already made by the company, debtors of the company from whom the payment is required to be received and deferred expenditure if any. The company has conducted the impairment testing in accordance with the relevant provisions of the accounting standards. In accordance with the provisions of the Australian accounting standard one hundred and thirty six on impairment of assets, the company is currently conducting the impairment test on an annual basis. At the end of each year and at each of the balance sheet date, the company assesses whether there are any indication that the value of the assets as stated in the balance sheet of the company is weakened. For the purpose of testing, the main emphasis is on the comparison of the recoverable amount with the carrying amount of the particular asset. Recoverable amount is the higher of the value in use and the net selling price. Value in use is defined as the present value of all the cash flows that are estimated for the future depending upon the useful life of an asset and the present value of the residual value of the asset at the end of its useful life. Net selling price is the selling price of the asset less the cost that is incurred to sell the product. Carrying amount is the amount of the assets which are stated in the balance sheet. The Company has also determined the cash generating units because of the fact that the cash flows to be derived from the assets cannot be derived separately (AASB, 2016). Yes, the company has recorded the impairment expenditures in the statement of the profit and loss account. As per the provisions of the accounting standard number one hundred and thirty six, the impairment loss is charged to the statement of the Profit and Loss account on one hand and on the other hand the impairment loss is charged to the value of the asset of the company and accordingly after deduction the carrying amount of the assets have been disclosed at the year end. Following are details for which the impairment expense has been charged (Company Official Website, 2017): S. No. Particulars Amount of Impairment Charges (In Million dollar) 1 Property plant and equipment 21.8 2 Loans and Advances 107.90 3 Financial Assets 0.3 4 Other acquired Intangibles 0.4 Following are the key estimates and assumptions that have been used by the firm for conducting the impairment testing: The assets will be tested for impairment at the end of the each year that is to say at the balance sheet date. In case of the property plant and equipment, the company has made the assumption that in case the carrying amount of the assets exceeds the recoverable amount, then the impairment loss will be recognized. As per the note number nine of the financial statements of the company, the impairment of loans and advances is made when there are chances of having the failure in the timely achievement of the repayment of the total amount which includes the principal as well as the interest on the outstanding principal. It is irrespective of the banking norms whether the loans and advances so given are due or has been outstanding for a period more than ninety days. In case of loans and advances, the impairment loss or the charges are made only when the company has the objective proof of having the loan portfolio in total loss. The company has also made the key assumption regarding the loans and advances and that is termed in the notes to the financial statement as the specific provision. Under this head, the provision is made only when there is the reasonable doubt on the collection of the principal and interest from the customer and then all the irrecoverable are written off or adjusted against the specific provision. It is done in the period in which the loans and advances so become irrecoverable. Company has made the head of the collective provision, where the individual loans which are not grouped earlier are regrouped under this head and the provision is made accordingly for the irrecoverable pertaining to the individual loans. Yes, although the company is in compliance with the relevant provisions of the accounting standard, but there is the subjectivity in the form of the different disclosure heads created by the company for bifurcating the impairment provision. Secondly, subjectivity is present in the estimation of the future cash flows on the basis of which the value in use is determined (Intelligent Investor, 2017). The first form of the subjectivity will confuse the investors of the company in understanding the impairment testing. The second form of subjectivity can lead the outcome to be distorted. It is because the estimation of the cash flows can appreciate the value of assets and can depreciate the value of assets. If in case it is not correctly determined then there will be the case where the value of the net block of assets is depreciating on one hand and on the other hand the companys net worth is deteriorating. I find somewhere it has confusion and at most of the times it is interesting. It is because it is different industry and the way they have dealt with the loans and advances is different. The insight is that the company is performing well in the estimation of impairment loss. It is because all the method that has been applied by the company is in total compliance with the provisions of the accounting standards. And the impairment testing is very fair and correct. In note number 22 of the financial statements, the fair value measurement has been described. Fair value is equivalent to the price that the company will receive when the company will sell the asset and the price at which the company will be able to complete its obligation. Fair values have been calculated by having the unadjusted market prices of the identical instruments of the market. There are other valuation techniques also where unadjusted market prices are not made available. These are Quoted market prices, techniques with observable inputs and technique with unobservable input. Economic reality means that the financial statements of the company shall present the true and fair view of the financial position and the financial performance of the company and basically how the company is disclosing the accounts and the key assumptions in the financial statements (Ely, 2015). In the former standard the liabilities of the company are not recorded in full on the face of the balance sheet of the company. It is to say that earlier only those liabilities are recorded in the balance sheet of the company that comes under the financial lease and the operating lease (Day and Stuart,2013). Due to this bifurcation the liabilities that come under the operating lease are required to be kept out of the balance sheet and are recorded as contingent liability off the balance sheet. Secondly, by having so bifurcation, the net worth of the company is understated and the banks and the financial institutions gives loan on that basis of only instead of considering the contingent liabilities. Thirdly, the proposed investors or the potential investors were on the idea that the company has the high net worth and offers the high earnings per share and does not even considers the contingent liabilities. Due to this very fact, the former accounting standard does not invoke the concept of the economic reality. The big statement that has been made by the Hans Hoogervorst is that the off balance sheet items consists of the 66 times greater than the debt reported on the balance sheet. It has generally happened in the earlier accounting standard. Under the former provisions, the liabilities in case of the operating lease are not liable to be recorded on the face of the balance sheet and thus records off the balance sheet (Singh, 2011). Due to this loophole, the company has started entering into the lease called operating lease. Under this lease, the lessee is not required to create the liabilities. It is because of the fact that the substantial risks and rewards are not transferred. Majorly the airlines have started entering into the lease and that too in operating one and have been recording the liabilities off the balance. Due to its accumulation over the period of lease, the amount becomes so higher that the total debt as recorded in the balance sheet counts as one third of the off balance sheet liabilities (Ma, 2011). The chairperson of the IASB has very categorically mentioned that there was no level playing field among the airlines. It has been said keeping in view the trend that the airlines have adopted over the period of time. Under the provisions of the former accounting standard, if any company enters into the operating lease then there will be the chances that the lessee company will not record the liabilities in relation to the financial obligations towards the lessor and shall record the same as the contingent liability off the balance sheet (Singer, 2017). Due to this privilege that the airlines company have sought and instead of entering into the financial lease or the rent agreement has entered into the operating lease agreement and have started mentioning the liability off the balance sheet which otherwise shall be mentioned as the actual liability (Gross, 2014). Now the competitor or new airlines which enters into the market will not be able to play like this and thus for some airlines the intra comparison is not possible in every meaning. Therefore, the chairperson has said that there was no playing field. Chairperson has simultaneously mentioned that the new accounting standard will not so popular with everyone. The major reason of the statement is that the companies which have been playing with their financial statements so long will naturally at first resist in the adoption of the relevant accounting standard and if when made applicable then they will resort to other form of hiring the planes or the machineries or any other asset depending upon the nature and size of the business like rent agreement, etc (Lim, 2014). Secondly, although the standard and its provisions are for the benefit of the investors, shareholders and other stakeholders of the company as it will bring out the economic reality of the company but the new standard will in some manner affects the way of doing of the business which is currently into the roots of the nature of doing business. Thirdly, the implementation of the new leasing standard will require the time as well as the cost which every company will resist and accordingly half of the listed companies which are into the leasing transactions will be greatly affected and will be out of the leasing transactions (Knubley, 2010; Moore and Nagy, 2013). Thus, in this manner the new leasing standard will be unpopular with everyone. The statement made by the chairperson of the IASB is very effective. The basic intent is very clear that by having the new leasing standard, the companies both lessor and lessee will be required to disclose the assets and liabilities in the balance sheet which in turn will help the investors and the other stakeholders of the company to take an informative and the better decision and that too in an efficient and effective manner FASB, (2016). Secondly, the new leasing standard will help the management of the company. It helps the company in the way that where any situation come where the company is required to make decision between two options as to whether to buy the machinery or to lease out, the company will be able to take an effective decision. References AASB, (2016), Impairment of Assets available at https://www.aasb.gov.au/admin/file/content105/c9/AASB136_07-04_COMPjun09_01-10.pdf accessed on 23-01-2018. AASB, (2016), Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement available at https://www.aasb.gov.au/admin/file/content105/c9/AASB139_07-04_COMPoct10_01-11.pdf accessed on 23-01-2018. Company Official Website, (2017), Annual Report 2016, available on https://www.bendigoadelaide.com.au accessed on 23/01/2018. Day, R. and Stuart, R., (2013), New lease accounting proposal: what it means and what companies can do to prepare.Financial Executive,29(6), pp.11-13. FASB, (2016), New Guidance on Lease Accounting available at https://www.fasb.org/jsp/FASB/FASBContent_C/NewsPagecid=1176167901466 accessed on 21/09/2017. Ely, K.M., (2015), Operating lease accounting and the market's assessment of equity risk.Journal of Accounting Research, pp.397-415 Gross, A.D, (2014). The path of lease resistance: How changes to lease accounting treatment may impact your business.Business Horizons,57(6), pp.759-765. Intelligent Investor, (2017), Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (BEN), available on https://www.intelligentinvestor.com.au/company/Bendigo-and-Adelaide-Bank-Limited-BEN-249121 accessed on 23/01/2018. Knubley, R., (2010). Proposed changes to lease accounting.Journal of Property Investment Finance,28(5), pp.322-327 Lim, S.C., (2014), Market Recognition of the Accounting Disclosure and Economic Benefits of Operating Leases: Evidence from Borrowing Costs and Credit Ratings. Ma W, (2011), Impact on Financial Statements of New Accounting model for leases available at https://digitalcommons.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1194context=srhonors_theses accessed on 21/09/2017 Moore, S. and Nagy, A., (2013), CONTRACT STRUCTURING UNDER THE NEW LEASE ACCOUNTING RULES: THE CASE OF CUSTOM DESIGN RETAIL, INC.Global Perspectives on Accounting Education,10, p.81 Singer, R, ( 2017), Accountinq for Leases Under the New Standard, Part 1: Definition and Classification of Leases and Lessee Accounting.CPA Journal,87(8). Singh, A.,( 2011). A restaurant case study of lease accounting impacts of proposed changes in lease accounting rules.International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,23(6), pp.820-839.