Research Case: Reporting Income Using the SEC EDGAR database, company home pages on the World uy Wide Web, or a similar database, do the following:

a. Accounting practices in the United States and Canada are similar, but there are a number of differences. For the securities of Canadian companies traded in the United States, a reconciliation of differences is usually found in the financial statements provided to U.S. security holders. Find two examples of Canadian companies following reporting or accounting practices that would not be acceptable in the United States. Focus first on the reporting of extraordinary gains and losses. What other differences did you find?

b. The chapter discussed revenue recognition and inventory valuation for precious metals such as gold. Examine the way in which several Canadian companies value their inventories of precious metals and compare that with the way in which similar U.S. companies value their inventories of precious metals. Do you find a general pattern?

c. Find three examples of U.S. companies with extraordinary gains or losses and describe the nature of the extraordinary items. Make sure that at least one of the extraordinary items you find is different from the others.