ACC340 Unit 1 Discussion - Danville Bottlers is a wholesale

Unit 1 Discussion: Analysis Case 9–5 Overstatement of ending inventory (ACC340 Intermediate Accounting)

Danville Bottlers is a wholesale beverage company. Danville uses the FIFO inventory method to determine the cost of its ending inventory. Ending inventory quantities are determined by a physical count. For the accounting year-end December 31, 2024, ending inventory was originally determined to be $3,265,000. However, on January 17, 2025, company’s controller discovered an error in the ending inventory count. The controller determined that the correct ending inventory amount should be $2,600,000.

Danville is a privately owned corporation with significant financing provided by a local bank. The bank requires annual audited financial statements as a condition of the loan. By January 17, the auditors had completed their review of the financial statements which are scheduled to be issued on January 25. They did not discover the inventory error.

The controller's first reaction was to communicate the finding to the auditors and to revise the financial statements before they are issued. However, the controller knows that fellow workers’ profit-sharing plans are based on annual pretax earnings and is uncertain what effect the error correction would have on pretax earnings.

Required:

What is the effect of the inventory error on pretax earnings?

How would correcting the error affect employee bonuses?

If the error is not corrected in the current year and is discovered by the auditors during the following year’s audit, how will it be reported in the company’s financial statements?