Thorp Inc. maintains a defined benefit pension plan for its employees. Pension plan balances as at January 1, 2020 include:    

¹ These prior service costs are from 2019 and already included in PBO on January 1,2020.

Required:

1. Determine the pension expenses recognized in 2020.
2. Prepare the journal entries to reflect the accounting for the pension plan for 2020.
3. Prepare the ending balances (31 December 2020) for plan assets, PBO, and calculate net pension liability.
4. What will be the expected impact of the current pandemic (Covid-19) on PBO?  

Grayson (single) is in the 24 percent tax rate bracket and has sold the following stocks in 2020: (Loss amounts should be indicated by a minus sign.)

Problem 7-46 Part-a (Algo)

a. What is Grayson’s net short-term capital gain or loss from these transactions?

b. What is Grayson’s net long-term gain or loss from these transactions?

c. What is Grayson’s overall net gain or loss from these transactions?

d. What amount of the gain, if any, is subject to the preferential rate for certain capital gains?

King Companies, Inc (KCI) is a private company that owns five auto parts stores in urban Los Angeles, California. King Companies has gone from two auto parts stores to five stores in the last three years, and it plans continued growth. Eric and Patricia King own the majority of the shares in KCI. Eric is the chairman of the board of directors of KCI and CEO, and Patricia is a director as well as the CFO. Shares not owned by Eric and Patricia are owned by friends and family who helped the Kings get started. Eric started the company with one store after working in an auto parts store. To date, he has funded growth from an inheritance and investments from a few friends. Eric and Patricia are thinking about expanding by opening three to five additional stores in the next few years.

In October 2021, Eric approached your accounting firm, Thornson & Danforth, LLP, to conduct an annual audit of KCI for the year ended December 31, 2022. KCI has not been audited before, but this year the audit has been requested by the company's bank because of anticipated bank loans and by a new private equity investor that has just acquired a 20% share of KCI.

KCI employs 20 full-time staff. These workers are employed in store management, sales, parts delivery, and accounting. About 40% of KCI's business is retail walk-in business, and the other 60% is regular customers where KCI delivers parts to their locations and bills these customers on account. During peak periods, KCI also uses part-time workers.

Eric is focused on growing revenues. Patricia trusts the company's employees to work hard for the company, and she feels they should be rewarded well. The accounting staff, in particular, is very loyal to the company. Eric tells you that accounting staff enjoy their jobs so much they have never taken any annual vacations and hardly any workers ever take sick leave.

There are two people currently employed as accounting staff, the most senior of whom is Jonathan Jung. Jonathan heads the accounting department and reports directly to Patricia. He is in his late fifties and hopes to retire in two or three years and move away from Los Angeles. Jonathan keeps a close watch on accounting and does many activities himself including opening mail, cash receipts and vendor payments, depositing funds received, performing reconciliations, posting journals, and performing the payroll function. His second employee, Abby Owens, is a recent college graduate who just passed the CPA exam. Abby is responsible for the payroll functions and posting all journal entries into the accounting system. Jonathan and Abby often help each other out in busy periods.

Evaluation: Based on what you know about the accounting system, what recommendations would you offer in terms of control activities?

You are working as a tax consultant in Mayfield, NSW. Your client is an investor and antique collector. You have ascertained that she is not carrying on a business. Your client provides the following information of sales of various assets during the current tax year:

(a) Block of vacant land. On 3 June of the current tax year your client signed a contract to sell a block of vacant land for $320,000. She acquired this land in January 2001 for $100,000 and incurred $20,000 in local council, water and sewerage rates and land taxes during her period of ownership of the land. The contract of sale stipulates that a deposit of $20,000 is payable to her when the contract of sale is signed and the balance is payable on 3 January of the next tax year, when the change of ownership will be registered.

(b) Antique bed. On 12 November of the current tax year your client had an antique four-poster Louis XIV bed stolen from her house. She recently had the bed valued for insurance purposes and the market value at 31 October of the current tax year was $25,000. She purchased the bed for $3,500 on 21 July 1986. Although the furniture was in very good condition, the bed needed alterations to allow for the installation of an innerspring mattress. These alterations significantly increased the value of the bed, and cost $1,500. She paid for the alterations on 29 October 1986. On 13 November of the current tax year she lodged a claim with her insurance company seeking to recover her loss. On 16 January of the current tax year her insurance company advised her that the antique bed had not been a specified item on her insurance policy. Therefore, the maximum amount she would be paid under her household contents policy was $11,000. This amount was paid to her on 21 January of the current tax year.

(c) Painting. Your client acquired a painting by a well-known Australian artist on 2 May 1985 for $2,000. The painting had significantly risen in value due to the death of the artist. She sold the painting for $125,000 at an art auction on 3 April of the current tax year.

(d) Shares. Your client has a substantial share portfolio which she has acquired over many years. She sold the following shares in the relevant year of income:

(i) 1,000 Common Bank Ltd shares acquired in 2001 for $15 per share and sold on 4 July of the current tax year for $47 per share. She incurred $550 in brokerage fees on the sale and $750 in stamp duty costs on purchase.(ii) 2,500 shares in PHB Iron Ore Ltd. These shares were also acquired in 2001 for $12 per share and sold on 14 February of the current tax year for $25 per share. She incurred $1,000 in brokerage fees on the sale and $1,500 in stamp duty costs on purchase (iii) 1,200 shares in Young Kids Learning Ltd. These shares were acquired in 2005 for $5 per share and sold on 14 February of the current tax year for $0.50 per share. She incurred $100 in brokerage fees on the sale and $500 in stamp duty costs on purchase. (iv) 10,000 shares in Share Build Ltd. These shares were acquired on 5 July of the current tax year for $1 per share and sold on 22 January of the current tax year for $2.50 per share. She incurred $900 in brokerage fees on the sale and $1,100 in stamp duty costs on purchase.

(e) Violin. Your client also has an interest in collecting musical instruments. She plays the violin very well and has several violins in her collection, all of which she plays on HI6028 Taxation Theory, Practice and Law T2 2018 a regular basis. On 1 May of the current tax year she sold one of these violins for $12,000 to neighbor who is in the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. The violin cost her $5,500 when she acquired it on 1 June 1999. Your client also has a total of $8,500 in capital losses carried forward from the previous tax year, $1,500 of which are attributable to a loss on the sale of a piece of sculpture which she sold in April of the previous year.

Required: Based on this information, determine your client’s net capital gain or net capital loss for the year ended 30 June of the current tax year.

Write about the U.S. GAAP and IFRS and eplain the details about the harmonization of U.S. GAAP and IFRS in your own words.

The U.S. economy has been in an expansion for almost a decade. What is the effect of a strong domestic economy on the market for U.S. dollars?

1. How has NAFTA impacted the U.S.? Overall, do you believe that it was a positive move for the U.S.? Why or why not?

How has NAFTA affected trade among the U.S., Canada and Mexico? Is NAFTA good for domestic U.S. and Mexican producers?