Interim Accounting ChangesDuring the third quarter of its 20X7 fiscal year, Press Company...

Interim Accounting Changes

During the third quarter of its 20X7 fiscal year, Press Company is considering the different meth­ods of reporting accounting changes on its interim segments. Preliminary data are available for the third quarter of 20X7, ending on September 30, 20X7, prior to any adjustments required for any accounting changes. The company’s tax rate is 40 percent of income. Selected interim data for the company, in thousands of dollars, follow:

Required

For each of the following independent cases, present the interim financial data for the company for the three quarters of 20X7 and the comparative data for 20X6, assuming that in a meeting on the last day of the third quarter of 20X7, the company decides to make the specified accounting change.

a. The company decides to change from the FIFO method of accounting for inventory to the LIFO method. The accounting department has prepared the following schedule of data, in thousands of dollars, showing the cost of goods sold each quarter under the LIFO method. The selected interim data presented above are based on the FIFO method. The accounting department has determined that there will be no difference in cost of goods sold prior to January 1, 20X6.

b. The company decides to switch from the straight-line method of depreciation to the accelerated method of depreciation because of a change in the estimated future benefits from the asset. The company has determined that the accumulated depreciation would have been $42,000 higher as of January 1, 20X6, if the accelerated method had been used. The depreciation expense deter­mined under the two methods is presented below:

c. The company decides to change its method of accounting for recognizing sales revenue on its long- term contracts. The company had been using the completed contract method but changed to the percentage-of-completion method. The accounting department has prepared an analysis of the sales and gross profit recognition under each of the two methods, in thousands of dollars, as follows: