Impairment of Assets Longreach Limited

Questions: 1. Write a report to management, specifically explaining the purpose of the impairment test ,how the existence of goodwill will affect the impairment test and the basic steps to be followed in applying the impairment test? 2. Prepare the journal entry(ies) for any impairment loss occurring at 30 June 2015? Answers: 1. AASB 136, Impairment of Assets, details about the situations when an entity should conduct the test for impairment of its assets and the entries for the same. It is similar to the International Accounting Standard 36 (IAS 36). The main objective of applying this standard is to ensure that the entity is not carrying its assets at a value which is more than the realisable amount. The importance of this impairment of assets has increased after the global economic crisis of 2008, thus for Longreach Limited this standard is also equally important and applicable so that the investors and the shareholders are sure of the fact that the assets are recorded at the actual realizable value and therefore the true worth of the company can also be known in case of liquidation. Impairment of any asset is to be done only if there are clues for such devaluation of asset. However it is to be understood that impairment is not done for all the assets which form a part of the balance sheet of the company. The exceptions to the same are as under: AASB 102- Inventories AASB 111- Construction Contract AASB 112- Deferred Tax Asset AASB 119- Employee Benefit AASB 139- Financial Assets AASB 140- Investment assets held for disposal AASB 141- Agricultural assets disclosed at fair value AASB 4- Insurance Contract AASB 5- Non-Current Assets held for sale It is not necessary that the impairment of an asset would take place only due to reasons which are internal to the organization but reasons can be outside the organization too. The reasons internal to the organization may be obsolescence, any asset held for sale or removal or decline in the performance of the entity (aasb.gov.au., 2007). Further the reasons outside the organization may be existence of unfavourable legal, political or economical situations, market capitalisation is less than the NAV of the company, declination in the value of an asset or increment of the market interest rate to an extent so as to have a negative impact on the asset or such cash generating unit. Thus once the indicators are recognized then an impairment test is conducted wherein the recoverable and the carrying amount of an asset is compared and if the former is less than the later then the difference of the two is recorded in the expense statement under the head impairment loss and the said amount is deducted from the current carrying amount of the asset. Thus once the asset passes the test of impairment then the company is required to revisit the useful life of the asset, the method of depreciation and the value of the asset at the end of the useful life. Further to this if the recoverable amount of the single assets is not possible to find out then the recoverable amount of the entire cash generating unit is found out (sace.sa.edu.au., 2012). Therefore some important terms that Longreach Limited should be made aware of are as under: Recoverable amount: The recoverable amount of any asset or a CGU is the greater of the fair value less cost of selling the asset or the value-in-use. Carrying Amount: It is the amount which is reflected in the balance sheet of a corporate after accounting for the depreciation and the impairment accumulated over the years. Cash Generating Unit: It is the smallest identifiable cluster of assets that has the capability of generating revenues for the entity independently. Value-in-use: The net present value of the cash flows that an asset would generate in future is termed as value-in-use (Albrecht et.al. 2011). Just like impairment of asset happens when there are indications for the same, similarly reversal of the same also is possible if the indications are such. If the indicators point towards the fact that the asset that was impaired in the past no more needs to account for such a loss, then the amount can be reversed. However the reversal is limited to the carrying amount of the asset that would have been had such an impairment not taken place. The reversal amount is recorded as an income in the income statement and the amount is added back to the asset in the balance sheet (Hamilton et.al.2011) . The accounting for impairment of goodwill is different. Whenever impairment of assets take place then in that case the impairment of goodwill happens first. Similarly in case of impairment of a CGU, the impairment of goodwill takes place fully followed by the impairment of other assets proportionately. Therefore goodwill is at first subject to impairment in comparison to the other assets. Secondly, goodwill once impaired can never be reversed unlike the other impaired assets of a balance sheet. Simple reason behind the same is that as per AASB 138 on Intangible Assets, internally generated goodwill is not realised and accounted for. Therefore any increment in the recoverable value of the goodwill after the impairment of the same would be considered as increase in the internally generated goodwill and not reversal of the same. Apart from the same , AASB 136 requires certain disclosures to be made with regards impairment of assets for any entity. The same is equally important for Longreach Limited to understand as it is an integral part whenever impairment occurs of any asset(Bond et.al. 2016). Therefore the following disclosures are a must: Following data should be reflected in the disclosures for each class of the asset being impaired: The amount of loss due to impairment that has been realised and accounted for both in the income statement and the line item(s) of the statement of comprehensive income The amount of any impairment that has been reversed and how the recording of the same has taken place both in the income statement as well as the line item(s) of the statement of comprehensive income. The amount of loss suffered by the entity because of impairment or the amount of impairment that has been reverted back that is a part of the other comprehensive income statement of that period. If Longreach Limited does segmental reporting then the following disclosures are also to be done: The loss due to impairment that is shown in the profit and loss account and in the equity as well. The reversal of such previously recorded impairment and its accounting in the profit and loss account and the equity as well. Supposedly impairment is material in nature of a CGU or an asset inclusive of goodwill then the below mentioned disclosures are a must: The reasons for impairment both internal as well as external The amount of impairment recorded whether loss or reversal of the same If the asset impaired is individual then the nature of the same and if the same is a part of a reportable segment of the entity then the details of the said segment. In case a CGU is being impaired then the nature of the same and amount of such loss or reversal (Dagwell et.al. 2012). Therefore on summarizing the same, it is very evident that impairment is a very important accounting standard which enables a company to disclose the assets of a company at its true value thus ensuring that the data revealed is true and fair in all aspects. 2. As per AASB 136, inventory is one such asset of Crossbow Limited which is not subject to impairment as the same is covered in AASB 102. The other assets goodwill, machinery, land and factory are subject to impairment. Further to this, brand name Crossbow Shoes is also not subject to impairment since the company has just changed its method of selling its products to online therefore the indications are positive for the said asset. Further to this land will be impaired separately since its recoverable amount is known separately which is less than its present carrying value. The remaining balance impairment will happen in the order goodwill will be impaired in full and the balance proportionately. The detailed calculation is as under: Since the value of land is known separately therefore the same is to be impaired separately. The impairment loss for land is $200000- $ 171000= $29000. The journal entry is as under: Profit and Loss Account (loss on impairment) Dr...............$29000 To accumulated impairment loss (Land)...............................................$29000 The total impairment is $1680000- $1420000 = $260000. Out of the same the impairment of land will be deducted i.e. $260000-$29000 =$231000. From the same goodwill will be impaired fully and the balance of $231000-$40000= $191000 will be allocated to factory and machinery to in the proportion of 7:4. Therefore the impairment allocated to factory will be 7/11*191000= $121545 and that to machinery will be 4/11*191000 =$69455 The journal entry will be as under: Profit and Loss Account (loss on impairment) Dr.................$231000 To goodwill A/c.....................................................................................$40000 To accumulated impairment loss (Shoe Factory)A/c...........................$121545 To accumulated impairment loss (machinery) A/c................................$69455 References aasb.gov.au., (2007), AASB 136- Impairment of Assets, Available at https://www.aasb.gov.au/admin/file/content105/c9/AASB136_07-04_COMPapr07_07-07.pdf (Accessed 19th January 2017) Albrecht, S., Stice, E., Stice, J., Swain, M. (2011).Accounting: Concepts and applications(11th ed.). Mason: South-Western Bond, D., Govendir, B., Wells, P., (2016), An evaluation of asset impairment by Australian Firms and whether they were impacted by AASB 136, Available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acfi.12194/full (Accessed 19th January 2017) Dagwell, R., Wines, G., Lambert, C., (2012), Corporate Accounting in Australia, Pearson: Australia Hamilton, K., Hyland, B., Dodd, J.L., (2011), Impairment : IASB-FASB Comparison, Drake Management Review, vol.1, no. 1, pp. 55-67 sace.sa.edu.au., (2012), Asset Accounting Policy Statement, Available at https://www.sace.sa.edu.au/documents/652891/e3c3644b-109e-404a-af87-2a114bb6651e (Accessed 19th January 2017)