Chapter 11: Corporations and their Financial Statements Flashcards
What are the different kinds of business structures?
- Corporation
- Sole proprietorships
- Partnerships
What is a corporation?
- is a distinct legal entity separate from the people who own its shares.
- An incorporated business pays taxes and can sue or be sued in a court of law.
- Property acquired by the corporation does not belong to the shareholders of the corporation, but to the corporation itself.
- Shareholder have limited liability.
What is a sole proprietorship?
- one person runs the business and is taxed on earnings at his or her personal income tax rate.
- there is no distinction between personal assets and assets held in the business.
What is a partnership (legislated under Partnership Act)?
- two or more persons run the business,
- Partnerships can be general or limited.
+ general partnership, all general partners run the day-to-day operations and are personally liable for all debts and obligations incurred.
+ With a limited partnership, general partners run the business while limited partners cannot participate in daily business activities. The limited partners’ liability is limited to the amount of their investments.
What are the advantages of incorporation?
- Limited share holder liability
- Continuity of existence (only terminate when bankruptcy)
- Transfer of ownership
- Ability to finance
- Growth (can handle large capital for operating large and growth)
- Professional management
What are the disadvantages of incorporation?
- Inflexibility (subject to many rules)
- Taxation (corporation tax and tax on dividend income)
- Expense (audits, tax returns, meetings, …)
- Capital withdrawal (even if the company doesnt want, small investors can withdraw their capital by selling share on the market).
What are the different types of corporations?
- Private corporations (restrict right of transfering shares, <= 50 shareholders, prohibit inviting the public to subscribe for their securities)
- Public corporations (listed on stock exchange and traded OTC)
What is the law about corporations?
- regulated by federal or provincial act and various laws.
- The by-laws are passed by the BODirectors and approved by the sharehodlers. Including:
+ Shareholders and directors meetings
+ Qualification, election, and removal of directors
+ Appointment, duties, and remuneration of officers
+ Declaration and payment of dividends
+ Date of fiscal year end
+ Signing authority for documents
What is proxy statement?
Is the document that shareholders will receive before the annual meeting. It oulines what is to be voted on at the meeting.
What is voting by proxy?
Shareholders don’t vote directly but give autority to a member of management team by indicating in proxy statement (or proxy form). Must be completed by hand and signed. (If shareholder leaves the items on proxy statement unmarked, will automaticlly cast with management’s viewpoint.
How shares are often registered?
In the street form (with name of dealer rather than name of beneficial owner)
When do they use voting trusts?
- When there is financial difficulties, restructuring may be placed under the control of a few individuals through a voting trust.
- This measure is used because financiers may be willing to inject new capital only if they can be assured of control to protect their investment until the corporation recovers
How do voting trusts work?
- To transfer voting control, shareholders are asked to deposit their shares with a trustee (usually a trust company) under the terms of a voting trust agreement.
- The trustee issues a voting trust certificate to give back to the shareholder
- Voting trust certificate has same rights possessed by the original shares except Voting privileges.
How long usually the voting trusts last?
The voting trust is usually put into effect for specific periods, or until certain results have been achieved
What is the corporate structure?
Shareholders -> BOD -> Chairman of the board -> President -> Executive Vice presiden (VP) -> VP finance = VP Marketing = VP secretary and general counsel = VP HR = VP research = VP public affairs.
What are the responsibilities of Directors?
- Set company policies by passing resolutions ( Đặt chính sách công ty bằng cách thông qua các nghị quyết).
- Appoint and supervise officers and signing authorities for banking, budget approval, financing, and plans for expansion.
- Responsible for the decision to issue shares and declare dividends and other dispositions of profits.
- They are personally liable for illegal acts of the corporation done with their knowledge and consent.
- They are personally responsible for employee wages, declared dividends, and government remittances.
- They must act honestly, in good faith, and in the best interests of the corporation.
What are the responsibilities of Chairman (elected by BOD)?
- Have all or any of the duties of the president or any other officer of the corporation.
- They may be the chief executive officer.
- They preside over meetings (chủ trì các cuộc họp) of the board and exert great influence on the management of the affairs of the corporation.
- May be combined with that of president.
What are the responsibilities of President (appointed by and responsible to the board of directors)?
- Exercise authority through the other officers and through the heads of departments or divisions.
- If the job of the president is not combined with that of the chairman, the president may act as chairman in the latter’s absence.
What are the responsibilities of Vice-presidents?
- Vice-presidents are appointed by, and responsible to, the president.
- They lead specific areas of the corporation’s operations, such as sales or finance.
What are the responsibilities of officers?
- Officers are appointed by the board of directors.
2. They are corporate employees responsible for the day-to-day operation of the business.
Which principal that most incorporated companies in Canada used until recently?
GAAP - Generally accepted accouting principles.
What is the position of statement of financial?
shows a company’s financial position in the last day of the company’s fiscal year (often Dec 31 but not require, Bank and Trust companies traditionally end their fiscal year on Oct 31).
What are the main items on Financial statement?
- Assets
- Equity (referred to as the book value of company)
- Liabilities
Total assets = Total equity + total liabilities
What are the classification of assets?
- Current
2. Non-current
What are noncurrent assets?
- Property, plant, and equipment (PP&E)
- Goodwill and Other intangible assets
- Investments in associates.
(They are shown as items 1 to 3 on the Statement of Financial Position)
What is include in category PP&E?
- consists of land, buildings, machinery, tools and equipment of all kinds, trucks, furnishings, and other items used in the day-to-day operations of a business.
- Valuable because it is used directly in producing the goods and services the company eventually sells.
- Are not intended to be sold.
What is depreciation?
- The loss over a period of years is known as depreciation
- Property (except land), plant, and equipment wear out over time or otherwise lose their usefulness.
What is depletion (can kiet)?
- Similar to the term depreciation but used in resource extraction industries such as mining, oil, natural gas.
- Depletion is the annual decrease in value the company records. ( these assets are developed and sold, the company loses part of its assets with each sale)
What is Amortization?
- is the term used to describe the gradual writing off of intangible assets such as patents or trademarks
How Items in the PP&E category are initially shown on the statement of financial position?
Show at original cost, including certain costs of acquisition (such as installation costs)
How they record depreciation?
- companies record depreciation expenses in each year’s statement of comprehensive income.
- the total accumulated depreciation is deducted from the original cost.
What are the factors that affect the amount of depreciation every year?
- the original cost of each asset
- Its expected useful life,
- Any residual value
What are the methods to calculate depreciation?
- Straight-line method
2. The declining-balance method
What is the Straight-line method?
- Applying an equal amount to each period. (often used by public companies in Canada)
- Annual Depreciation Expense = (Original cost - residual value) / Expected useful life in year
What is the declining-balance method?
- Applying a fixed percentage to the outstanding balance to determine the expense to be charged in each period.
- This amount is then deducted from the capital asset balance to determine the amount against which the percentage will be applied in the subsequent period (thus the term declining balance).
What is the benefit of calculating depreciation?
- to allocate the cost of the company’s PP&E over the useful lives of the assets -> matching earnings to expenses and income in a fiscal period. (The depreciation method estimated life and valuation must be reviewed each year according to the IFRS accounting system).
In which account depreciation, depletion and amortization appear in the statement of comprehensive income?
- Cash or non-cash expense (it is possible cash increase considerably but still no profit. These effects are reflected in the statement of cash flows)
In accounting activity, what is capitalization?
- Records an expenditure as an asset, rather than an expense. (When buying a machine, it is recorded in asset, not immediate in expense)
- The purpose is to spread the amount over more than one accounting period. When a company capitalizes an asset, profit in the year of acquisition is affected to a much lesser degree.
What is the regulation in the acquisition?
Under IFRS, fewer acquisition-related costs are allowed to be capitalized; instead, they must be expensed in the year of acquisition
What is Goodwill?
- Loyalty customers, location, reputations -> a buyer of a business is often willing to pay for the good name of that business, or for its continued good management, in addition to the value of its assets.
- In a statement of financial of the acquirer, it is the excess of the amount paid for the shares over their net asset value.
What are intangible assets?
- Are non-monetary assets that do not have physical substance.
- Can be sold, licensed, or transferred, but they usually decline greatly in value when a company is liquidated (bi thanh ly).
- Ex: patents, copyrights, franchises, and trademarks.
- Their value is connected more to their contribution to earning power than to their saleability as assets.
What is Investment in associates?
- Refers to the degree of ownership that a company has in another company.
- As a general rule, significant influence is presumed to exist when a company owns at least 20% – but less than half – of the voting rights of the other company.
What are current assets?
- Are assets that will be realized, consumed, or sold in the normal course of business, typically within one year.
5. Inventory
6. prepaid expenses
7. Trade receivables
8. Cash and cash equivalents.
( are shown as Items 5 to 8 on the Statement of Financial Position)
What is the most important asset group, why?
Current assets because they largely determine a firm’s ability to pay its day-to-day operating expenses.
What is Inventory?
- Inventory consists of the goods and supplies that a - company keeps in stock.
- Inventories are changed into cash through successive steps as raw materials are processed into finished goods.
How Inventories are valued?
- At original cost or net realizable value, whichever is lower. (Net realizable value as the expected sale price less the costs associated with selling the asset)
What are the two common methods used to value inventories at the original cost?
- The weighted average method uses the average of the total cost of the goods purchased over the period on a per unit basis.
- The first-in-first-out (FIFO) method implies that items acquired earliest are assumed to be used or sold first.
What is prepaid expenses?
- Are payments made by the company for services to be received in the near future (eg. prepaid rents, insurance premiums, and taxes)
- Prepaid expenses are the equivalent of cash because they eliminate the need to pay cash for goods or services in the immediate future.
What is trade receivables?
- Represents money owing to a company for goods or services it has sold.
- The net amount of trade receivables is shown on the statement of financial position as trade receivables minus the allowance for doubtful accounts
What is Allowance for doubtful account?
Some customers might fail to pay their bills, this account is used to subtracted from receivables the amount that estimated will not be collected.
What is Cash and Cash equivalents?
- represents cash on hand, funds in the company’s bank accounts, or funds held in short-term investments.
- These items hold minimal risk of a change in value and are readily convertible into cash.
What are the items in Equity?
- share capital
- retained earnings
- Non-controlling interest
They are shown on the statement of financial position as Items 11 to 13
What is Share capital?
- Is the money paid in by shareholders.
- The amount received by the company for its shares at the time issuing. (-> the share capital shown on the statement of financial position is not related
in any way to the current market price of the outstanding shares)