Question 1. Golf Away Corporation is a retail sport stores carrying golf apparel and equipment. The store is at the end of its second year of operation and is struggling. A major problem is that its cost of inventory has continually increased in the past two years. In the first year of operations, the store assigned inventory costs using LIFO. A loan agreement the store has with its bank, a prime source of financing, requires the store to maintain a certain profit margin and current ratio. The store's owner is currently looking over Golf Away's preliminary financial statements for the second year. The numbers are not favorable. The only way the store can meet the required financial ratios agreed on with the bank is to change from LIFO to FIFO. The store originally decided on LIFO because of its tax advantages. The owner recalculates ending inventory using FIFO and submits those numbers and statements to the loan officer at the bank with the required bank review. The owner thankfully reflects on the available in latitude in choosing the inventory costing.
a. How does Golf Away use of FIFO to improve its net profit margin and current ratio?
b. Is the action by Golf Away's owner ethical? Explain
Question 2. You are a financial adviser with a client in the wholesale produce business that just completed its first year of operation. Due to weather conditions, the cost of acquiring produce to resell has escalated during the later part of this period. Your client mentions that because the business sell perishable goods, she has striven to maintain FIFO flow of goods. Although sales are good, the increasing cost of inventory has put the business in a tight cash position. The owner has expressed concern regarding the ability of the business to meet income tax obligations. Prepare a memorandum that identifies, explains, and justifies the inventory method that you recommend for this business owner.