Intermediate Accounting I Final

What is the nature of research and development costs?

Research and development costs are incurred to develop new products or processes, to improve present products, or to discover new knowledge. R&D expenditures present problems of (1) identifying the costs associated with particular activities, projects, or achievements, and (2) determining the magnitude of the future benefits and the length of time over which such benefits may be realized. R&D activities may incur costs classified as follows: (a) materials, equipment, and facilities, (b) personnel, (c) purchased intangibles, (d) contract services, and (e) indirect costs.

What are factors to be considered in estimating the useful life of an intangible asset?

Factors to be considered in determining useful life are: (a) The expected use of the asset by the entity. (b) The expected useful life of another asset or a group of assets to which the useful life of the intangible asset may relate. (c) Any legal, regulatory, or contractual provisions that may limit useful life. (d) Any legal, regulatory or contractual provisions that enable renewal or extension of the asset's legal or contractual life without substantial cost. (e) The effects of obsolescence, demand, competition, and other economic factors. (f) The level of maintenance expenditure required to obtain the expected future cash flows from the asset.

Research and development activities may include (a) personnel costs, (b) materials and equipment costs, and (c) indirect costs. What is the recommended accounting treatment for these three types of R&D costs?

(a) Personnel (labor) type costs incurred in R&D activities should be expensed as incurred. (b) Materials and equipment costs should be expensed immediately unless the items have alternative future uses. If the items have alternative future uses, the materials should be recorded as inventories and allocated as consumed and the equipment should be capitalized and depreciated as used. (c) Indirect costs of R&D activities should be reasonably allocated to R&D (except for general and administrative costs, which must be clearly related to be included) and expensed.

Columbia Sportswear Company acquired a trademark that is helpful in distinguishing one of its new products. The trademark is renewable every 10 years at minimal cost. All evidence indicates that this trademarked product will generate cash flows for an indefinite period of time. How should this trademark be amortized?

This trademark is an indefinite life intangible and, therefore, should not be amortized.

Last year, Zeno Company recorded an impairment on an intangible asset held for use. Recent appraisals indicate that the asset has increased in value. Should Zeno record this recovery in value?

Under U.S. GAAP, impairment losses on assets held for use may not be restored.

If intangibles are acquired for stock, how is the cost of the intangible determined?

If intangibles are acquired for stock, the cost of the intangible is the fair value of the consideration given or the fair value of the consideration received, whichever is more clearly evident.

Intangibles have either a limited useful life or an indefinite useful life. How should these two different types of intangibles be amortized?

Limited-life intangibles should be amortized by systematic charges to expense over their useful life. An intangible asset with an indefinite life is not amortized.

In examining financial statements, financial analysts often write off goodwill immediately. Comment on this procedure.

Many analysts believe that the value of goodwill is so subjective that it should not be given the same status as other types of assets such as cash, receivables, inventory, etc. The analysts are simply stating that they believe that presentation of goodwill on the balance sheet does not provide any useful information to the users of financial statements. Whether this is true or not is a difficult point to prove, but it should be noted that it appears contradictory to pay for the goodwill and then immediately write it off, denying that it has any value.

What should be the pattern of amortization for a limited life intangible?

The amount of amortization expensed for a limited-life intangible asset should reflect the pattern in which the asset is consumed or used up, if that pattern can be reliably determined. If the pattern of production or consumption cannot be determined, the straight-line method of amortization should be used.

What are the two main characteristics of intangible assets?

The two main characteristics of intangible assets are: (a) they lack physical substance. (b) they are not a financial instrument.

What is goodwill? What is a bargain purchase?

Varying approaches are used to define goodwill. They are (a) Goodwill should be measured initially as the excess of the fair value of the acquisition cost over the fair value of the net assets acquired. This definition is a measurement definition but does not conceptually define goodwill. (b) Goodwill is sometimes defined as one or more unidentified intangible assets and identifiable intangible assets that are not reliably measurable. Examples of elements of goodwill include new channels of distribution, synergies of combining sales forces, and a superior management team. (c) Goodwill may also be defined as the intrinsic value that a business has acquired beyond the mere value of its net assets whether due to the personality of those conducting it, the nature of its location, its reputation, or any other circumstance incidental to the business and tending to make it permanent. Another definition is the capitalized value of the excess of estimated future profits of a business over the rate of return on capital considered normal in the industry. A bargain purchase (or negative goodwill) occurs when the fair value of the assets purchased is higher than the cost. This situation may develop from a market imperfection. In this case, the seller would have been better off to sell the assets individually than in total. However, situations do occur (e.g., a forced liquidation or distressed sale due to the death of the company founder), in which the purchase price is less than the value of the identifiable net assets.

Why does the accounting profession make a distinction between internally created intangibles and purchased intangibles?

When intangibles are created internally, it is often difficult to determine the validity of any future service potential. To permit deferral of these types of costs would lead to a great deal of subjectivity because management could argue that almost any expense could be capitalized on the basis that it will increase future benefits. The cost of purchased intangibles, however, is capitalized because its cost can be objectively verified and reflects its fair value at the date of acquisition.