1. When canceling debt before its maturity, debt retirement, it is theorized that the recall of the debt is a current decision. For that reason any gains or losses arising from the debt retirement should be
A. reported in the current period income statement as an extraordinary item
B. reported in the current period income statement as an extraordinary item, net of tax
C. reported in the current period statement of retained earnings as a prior period adjustment
D. reported in the current period income statement but not as an extraordinary item
2. For disclosing the periodic income tax expense on the income statement, one method advocated by proponents of the net-of-tax method theorize that this method should report
A. income tax expense equal to current income tax payable
B. only deferred tax assets but not deferred tax liabilities
C. only deferred tax liabilities but not deferred tax assets
D. net operating loss tax carry-forwards but not net operating loss tax carry-backs
3. The SEC has rules which protect entities from fraud charges as long as the estimates by management used in their annual reports are prepared in a reasonable manner and disclosed in good faith. These rules are referred to as
A. management by exception allowances
B. Regulation Y-P
C. Wheat Rules
D. safe harbor
4. A method of accounting for business combinations that is no longer allowed is the
A. purchase method
B. pooling of interests method
C. goodwill method
D. parent-subsidiary method
5. One of the primary reasons that the Federal Government passed the ERISA Act of 1974 (Pension Reform Act of 1974) is that the Federal Government was concerned about
A. the accounting for the pension expense
B. the accounting for the pension asset/liability
C. the funding policies of pension plans
D. the sudden rise in the popularity of defined contribution plans
6. If the benefits and risks of ownership have been transferred in a lease agreement, a capital lease should be recognized. Besides this, another conceptual consideration for recording capital leases for the lessee and sales or direct-financing leases for the lessor is
A. consistency in accounting between the lessee and lessor
B. the use of the same discount rate for present value computations by both the lessee and lessor
C. the same asset cost-basis for both the lessee and lessor
D. the recognition of the same amount of interest revenue (lessor) and interest expense (lessee)
7. Assume that you are concerned with the account balances reported on an entity's balance sheet, more so than the amounts reported in the income statement. When it comes time to estimating bad debts, theoretically the better approach to meet your needs as a user of the financial statements would be to have the entity estimate bad debts based on
A. the total sales both cash and credit
B. the total credit sales
C. the outstanding accounts receivable balance
D. the direct write-off method
8. The capitalization of interest costs applies to
A. assets (property, plant, equipment) while under construction
B. interest costs for inventory that is financed
C. bonds payable
D. leased assets
9. Events and circumstances have occurred that indicate 100% of the carrying (book) value of a tangible asset is determined to be unrecoverable (the recoverability test has "failed"). The impairment loss would be measured as the difference between
A. the historical cost and the fair value
B. the historical cost and the carrying (book) value
C. the carrying (book) value and the fair value
D. the present value of the net future cash flows and the fair value
10. Which of the following statements best describes the accounting for bond issue costs?
A. The FASB ASC treats them as an expense while the SFAC treats them as an asset
B. The FASB ASC treats them as an asset while the SFAC treats them as an expense
C. Both the FASB ASC and the SFAC treats them as an asset
D. Both the FASB ASC and the SFAC treats them as an expense
11. The theoretical basis for requiring companies to use fair value accounting to account for investments in equity securities derives primarily from a qualitative characteristic of reporting financial information from SFAC 8 (previously SFAC 2). The characteristic which best applies to this requirement is
A. faithful representation (reliability)
B. timeliness
C. consistency
D. relevance
12. Accounting for convertible debt is both a theoretical and practical problem in accounting. Is it a debt instrument, an equity instrument, or both? Under accounting standard APB Opinion 14 the amount of the conversion feature of convertible debt should be shown as
A. a liability
B. equity
C. a special item between liabilities and equity
D. separate components shown as both equity and liabilities
13. The current joint project on accounting for leases by the FASB and IASB came about because users of financial information believe that
A. leases are being classified as capital leases which they believe should be classified as operating leases
B. leases are being classified as operating leases which they believe should be classified as capital leases
C. leases are becoming a more predominant method of financing asset acquisitions used in business operations
D. off-balance sheet financing has become less of an issue since the initial lease standard (SFAS 13)
14. The primary reason that the FASB does not allow for the capitalization of most research and development costs is because
A. of the uncertainty of future benefits
B. of the difficulty of measuring the initial research and development costs
C. of the difficulty of determining the amortization period for research and development costs
D. of the difficulty segregating research costs from development costs
15. In 1936 the AICPA recognized the difference in importance between items reported in the balance sheet as current assets and liabilities, and long-term assets and liabilities, for the different users of financial information. They acknowledge that the liquidity of a business was as important, if not more important, than long-term assets and liabilities from the point of view of the
A. debtor
B. common stock shareholder
C. creditor
D. preferred stock shareholder
16. In Accounting Research Bulletin (ARB) 43 intangible assets were originally classified as "Type a" or "Type b" intangibles. Since that time changes have been made to the classification of intangible assets. SFAS 142 issued in 2001 changed the classification of intangibles to which of the following two groups?
A. identifiable and unidentifiable
B. externally acquired and internally developed
C. amortizable and unamortizable
D. indefinite life and finite life
17. Section 404 of the SOX Act (2002) was one of the most, if not the most, controversial provisions of SOX. In Section 404 management is responsible for establishing, maintaining, and assessing the businesses'
A. corporate governance
B. strategy
C. budgeting
D. internal controls
18. The prominent theory (theories) for business consolidations are
A. entity theory
B. parent company theory
C. both entity theory and parent company theory
D. neither entity theory nor parent company theory
19. Though not specifically stated, both APB Statement No. 4 and SFAC No. 6 have defined assets, liabilities, and equities in a manner consistent with proprietary theory. Proprietary theory depicts the accounting equation as
A. assets - liabilities = equity
B. assets = liabilities + equity
C. assets = equities
D. assets - equities = liabilities
20. The accounting for uncertain tax positions has been addressed by FIN 48, "Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes - An Interpretation of FASB Statement No. 109." Under FIN 48 the evaluation of a tax position is a two-step process. These steps are
A. measurement and evaluation
B. recognition and measurement
C. recognition and assessment
D. evaluation and assessment
21. Under troubled debt restructuring, when a creditor's restructured measurement of a loan is less than the current carrying value of the loan (prior to restructuring) they will record a(n)
A. extraordinary loss, net of tax
B. bad debt loss
C. contra-account to the loan as a valuation account
D. loan receivable for the difference between the carrying value of the loan (prior to restructuring) and restructured measurement of the loan
22. Unrealized holding gains and losses from equity securities classified as available-for-sale
A. are reported as extraordinary items, net of tax
B. are reported as other gains or losses
C. are reported not reported on the income statement
D. are reported as other comprehensive income
23. The measurement and reporting of stock options as an expense was one of the most politically debated topics since the inception of the CAP, APB, and FASB. The end result is that
A. there is no recognition of an expense until the stock options are exercised
B. there is only recognition of expense for stock options that have not been exercised and expired
C. there is recognition of expense only for stock options exercised in the same year they are granted
D. there is recognition of expense for stock options in the year they are granted
24. Among the competing theories related to the recording and reporting of accounting theory, the theory which views management and control as important components of the firm is the
A. commander theory
B. fund theory
C. enterprise theory
D. residual equity theory
25. One of the criticisms of the lower of cost or market rule for inventories is that it does not consider holding gains, only holding losses. A viewpoint to counter this criticism is
A. materiality
B. cost/benefit
C. conservatism
D. fair value