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Presented below is an excerpt from the financial statements of H. J. Heinz Company.

Segment and Geographic Data

The company is engaged principally in one line of business—processed food products—which represents over 90% of consolidated sales. Information about the business of the company by geographic area is presented in the table below

There were no material amounts of sales or transfers between geographic areas or between affiliates, and no material amounts of United States export sales.

Foreign

(In thousands of U.S.

dollars)

Domestic

United Kingdom

Canada

Western Europe

Other

Total

Worldwide

Sales

\(2,381,054

\)547,527

\(216,726

\)383,784

\(209,354

\)1,357,391

$3,738,445

Operating income

246,780

61,282

34,146

29,146

25,111

146,685

396,465

Identifiable assets

1362,152

265,218

112,620

294,732

143,971

816,541

2,178,693

Capital expenditures

72,712

12,262

13,790

8,253

4,368

38,673

111,385

Depreciation expense

42,279

8,364

3,592

6,355

3,606

21,917

64,196

Instructions

(c) Why are sales by geographical area important to disclose?

Short Answer

Expert verified

Due to the political and economic instability of many countries, sales in these regions should be carefully disclosed.

Step by step solution

01

Meaning of Segment Reporting

The reporting of financial statements of a company's segments or divisions separately is called segment reporting. Publicly traded companies must provide segment data, while privately-owned companies are not obligated to do so.

02

Explaining the reason for sales by geographical area is important to disclose

Reporting sales by geographical area is extremely important. Many countries are politically and economically unstable, so sales in these regions should be carefully considered. On the other hand, sales to countries that appear to be politically and economically stable indicate that sales in these regions will continue at a higher rate.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Okay. Last fall, someone with a long memory and an even longer arm reached into that bureau drawer and came out with a moldy cheese sandwich and the equally moldy notion of corporate forecasts. We tried to find out what happened to the cheese sandwich—but, rats!, even recourse to the Freedom of Information Act didn’t help. However, the forecast proposal was dusted off, polished up and found quite serviceable. The SEC, indeed, lost no time in running it up the old flagpole—but no one was very eager to salute. Even after some of the more objectionable features—compulsory corrections and detailed explanations of why the estimates went awry—were peeled off the original proposal.

Seemingly, despite the Commission’s smiles and sweet talk, those craven corporations were still afraid that an honest mistake would lead them down the primrose path to consent decrees and class action suits. To lay to rest such qualms, the Commission last week approved a “Safe Harbor” rule that, providing the forecasts were made on a reasonable basis and in good faith, protected corporations from litigation should the projections prove wide of the mark (as only about 99% are apt to do).

Instructions

  1. What is the purpose of the “safe harbor” rule?

Picasso Company is a wholesale distributor of packaging equipment and supplies. The company’s sales have averaged about \(900,000 annually for the 3-year period 2015–2017. The firm’s total assets at the end of 2017 amounted to \)850,000.

The president of Picasso Company has asked the controller to prepare a report that summarizes the financial aspects of the company’s operations for the past 3 years. This report will be presented to the board of directors at their next meeting.

In addition to comparative financial statements, the controller has decided to present a number of relevant financial ratios which can assist in the identification and interpretation of trends. At the request of the controller, the accounting staff has calculated the following ratios for the 3-year period 2015–2017.

2015

2016

2017

Current ratio

1.80

1.89

1.96

Acid-test (quick) ratio

1.04

0.99

0.87

Accounts receivable turnover

8.75

7.71

6.42

Inventory turnover

4.91

4.32

3.42

Debt to assets ratio

51.0%

46.0%

41.0%

Long-term debt to assets ratio

31.0%

27.0%

24.0%

Sales to fixed assets (fixed asset turnover)

1.58

1.69

1.79

Sales as a percent of 2015 sales

1.00

1.03

1.07

Gross margin percentage

36.0%

35.1%

34.6%

Net income to sales

6.9%

7.0%

7.2%

Return on assets

7.7%

7.7%

7.8%

Return on common stockholders’ equity

13.6%

13.1%

12.7%

In preparation of the report, the controller has decided first to examine the financial ratios independent of any other data to determine if the ratios themselves reveal any significant trends over the 3-year period.

Instructions

a) The current ratio is increasing while the acid-test (quick) ratio is decreasing. Using the ratios provided, identify and explain the contributing factor(s) for this apparently divergent trend.

Identify the segment information that is required to be disclosed by GAAP.

The controller for Lafayette Inc. recently commented, “If I have to disclose our segments individually, the only people who will gain are our competitors and the only people that will lose are our present stockholders.” Evaluate this comment.

(Disclosure of Estimates) Nancy Tercek, the financial vice president, and Margaret Lilly, the controller, of Romine Manufacturing Company are reviewing the financial ratios of the company for the years 2017 and 2018. The financial vice president notes that the profit margin on sales ratio has increased from 6% to 12%, a hefty gain for the 2-year period. Tercek is in the process of issuing a media release that emphasizes the efficiency of Romine Manufacturing in controlling cost. Margaret Lilly knows that the difference in ratios is due primarily to an earlier company decision to reduce the estimates of warranty and bad debt expense for 2018. The controller, not sure of her supervisor’s motives, hesitates to suggest to Tercek that the company’s improvement is unrelated to efficiency in controlling cost. To complicate matters, the media release is scheduled in a few days.

Instructions

  1. What, if any, is the ethical dilemma in this situation?
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