Brooks Corporation is a medium-sized corporation specializing in quarrying stone for building construction. The company consist of long dominated the market, at one time accomplishing a 70% market penetration. Throughout prosperous years, the company's profits, coupled with a conservative dividend policy, resulted in funds accessible for outside investment. Over the years, Brooks has had a policy of investing idle cash in equity securities. In specific, Brooks has made periodic investments in the company's principal supplier, Norton Industries. Though the firm presently owns 12% of the outstanding common stock of Norton Industries, Brooks doesn't encompass significant persuade over the operations of Norton Industries.
Cheryl Thomas has lately joined Brooks as assistant controller, and her first assignment is to make the 2012 year-end adjusting entries for the accounts which are valued by the 'fair value' rule for financial reporting purposes. Thomas has collected the given information regarding Brooks's pertinent accounts.
a) Brooks has trading securities associated to Delaney Motors and Patrick Electric. Throughout this fiscal year, Brooks purchased 100,000 shares of Delaney Motors for $1,400,000; these shares presently have a market value of $1,600,000. Brooks' investment in Patrick Electric has not been profitable; the company acquired 50,000 shares of Patrick in April 2012 at $20 per share, a purchase which presently has a value of $720,000.
b) Prior to 2012, Brooks invested $22,500,000 in Norton Industries and has not changed its holdings this year. This investment in Norton Industries was valued at $21,500,000 on December 31, 2011. Brooks' 12% ownership of Norton Industries has a present market value of $22,225,000.