Q1. Case: The Kroger Company
January 31, 2015 February 1, 2014 February 2, 2013
Net sales $108,465 $98,375 $96,619
Cost of sales (using LIFO) $85,512 $78,138 $76,726
Year-end inventories using FIFO $6,933 $6,801 $6,244
Year-end inventories using LIFO $5,688 $5,651 $5,146
Compute Kroger's inventory turnovers for fiscal years ending January 31, 2015, and February 1, 2014, using:
(1) Cost of sales and LIFO inventory.
(2) Cost of sales and FIFO inventory
Q2. (FIFO and LIFO) Harrisburg Company is considering changing its inventory valuation method from FIFO to LIFO because of the potential tax savings. However, management wishes to consider all of the effects on the company, including its reported performance, before making the final decision. The inventory account, currently valued on the FIFO basis, consists of 1,000,000 units at $8 per unit on January 1, 2017. There are 1,000,000 shares of common stock outstanding as of January 1, 2017, and the cash balance is $400,000.
The company has made the following forecasts for the period 2017-2019.
2017 2018 2019
Unit sales (in millions of units) 1.1 1.0 1.3
Sales price per unit $10 $12 $12
Unit purchases (in millions of units) 1.0 1.1 1.2
Purchase price per unit $8 $9 $10
Annual depreciation (in thousands of dollars) $300 $300 $300
Cash dividends per share $0.15 $0.15 $0.15
Cash payments for additions to and replacement
of plant and equipment (in thousands of dollars) $350 $350 $350
Income tax rate 40% 40% 40%
Operating expenses (exclusive of depreciation)
as a percent of sales 15% 15% 15%
Common shares outstanding (in millions) 1 1 1
(a) Prepare a schedule that illustrates and compares the following data for Harrisburg Company under the FIFO and the LIFO inventory method for 2017-2019. Assume the company would begin LIFO at the beginning of 2017.
(1) Year-end inventory balances.
(2) Annual net income after taxes.
(3) Earnings per share.
(4) Cash balance.
Assume all sales are collected in the year of sale and all purchases, operating expenses, and taxes are paid during the year incurred.
(b) Using the data above, your answer to (a), and any additional issues you believe need to be considered, prepare a report that recommends whether or not Harrisburg Company should change to the LIFO inventory method. Support your conclusions with appropriate arguments.
Q3. Malone Company determined its ending inventory at cost and at LCNRV at December 31, 2017, December 31, 2018, and December 31, 2019, as shown below.
Cost NRV
12/31/17 $650,000 $650,000
12/31/18 $780,000 $712,000
12/31/19 $905,000 $830,000
Instructions
(a) Prepare the journal entries required at December 31, 2018, and at December 31, 2019, assuming that a perpetual inventory system and the cost-of-goods-sold method of adjusting to LCNRV is used.
(b) Prepare the journal entries required at December 31, 2018, and at December 31, 2019, assuming that a perpetual inventory is recorded at cost and reduced to LCNRV using the loss method.
Q4. GROUPWORK (Retail, LIFO Retail, and Inventory Shortage) Late in 2014, Joan Seceda and four other investors took the chain of Becker Department Stores private, and the company has just completed its third year of operations under the ownership of the investment group. Andrea Selig, controller of Becker Department Stores, is in the process of preparing the year-end financial statements. Based on the preliminary financial statements, Seceda has expressed concern over inventory shortages, and she has asked Selig to determine whether an abnormal amount of theft and breakage has occurred. The accounting records of Becker Department Stores contain the following amounts on November 30, 2017, the end of the fiscal year.
Cost Retail
Beginning inventory $ 68,000 $100,000
Purchases $255,000 $400,000
Net markups $50,000
Net markdowns $110,000
Sales revenue $320,000
According to the November 30, 2017, physical inventory, the actual inventory at retail is $115,000. Instructions
(a) Describe the circumstances under which the retail inventory method would be applied and the advantages of using the retail inventory method.
(b) Assuming that prices have been stable, calculate the value, at cost, of Becker Department Stores' ending inventory using the last-in, first-out (LIFO) retail method. Be sure to furnish supporting calculations.
(c) Estimate the amount of shortage, at retail, that has occurred at Becker Department Stores during the year ended November 30, 2017.
(d) Complications in the retail method can be caused by such items as (1) freight-in costs, (2) purchase returns and allowances, (3) sales returns and allowances, and (4) employee discounts. Explain how each of these four special items is handled in the retail inventory method.