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Man6608

Decent Essays

Jennifer Diaz
ACG6175
Harnischfeger Corp: Case Study 2

1. Describe clearly the accounting changes Harnischfeger made in 1984 as stated in Note 2 of its financial statements.

As stated in Note 2 of its financial statements, the accounting changes Harnischfeger made in 1984 are those of net sales of the products that were purchased from Kobe Steel which were then sold by Harnischfeger which added on to the net sales of the company. Harnischfeger included financial statements of certain foreign subsidiaries. Its effect would result in sales which totaled to $28.0 million in 1984. In addition, because Harnischfeger would go on to changed its method of depreciation to a more accelerated version, which would be a straight line …show more content…

6. Note 8 states Harnischfeger’s allowance for doubtful accounts. Compute the ratio of the allowance to gross receivables (receivables before the allowance) in 1983 and 1984. What would the allowance have been if the company maintained the ratio at the 1983 level? How much did the pre-tax income increase as a result of the changed ratio in 1984?

1984 – 0.0673 or 6.73%
1983 – 0.1004 or 10.04%

The doubtful accounts allowance at 1983 levels would have been $8.8 million.
The resulting change equates to roughly 500K increase in pre-tax income. The allowance would have been $8,531,577.60 if they had kept the same ratio from 2003 in 2004.

The pre-tax income increased by 2.63 million as a result of the ratio change in 1984. The ratio of allowance to gross receivables in 1983 was 0.0001. The ratio in 1984 was 0.000067. If the company maintained the ratio at 1983 level, the allowance would have been $8.8 million. The pretax income increased by $2.9 million because of the change in ratio in 1984.

7. Note 9, on page 216, states that Harnischfeger decreased R&D expense in 1984 relative to the previous two years. Do you think this change was motivated by business considerations or accounting considerations? How did this change affect the company’s reported profits in 1984?

I believe that the importance of making their corporation look good was far more important than making the decisions which would ensure sustainability.

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