Alaska Airlines and United Continental are both passenger airline companies. Although they use similar assets to conduct their businesses, the estimated lives they use to depreciate their assets vary, as shown in the following table. Estimated Useful Lives (years) Asset Category Alaska Airlines United Continental Aircraft 1520 2530 Buildings 2530 2545 Computer sowara 310 5 omerequipment 5-10 3-15 Managers have signicant exibility in setting the estimated useful lives of depreciable assets, and as the table shows, United Continental uses longer estimated lives for its assets than does Alaska Airlines. Required How does using a longer estimated life for a depreciable asset potentially affect its earnings? Would using a longer estimated life for a depreciable asset be more likely to affect a company's xed or variable costs? In the past, some companies, not United Continental, have been accused of deliberately overestimating the useful lives of their companies' depreciable assets. Speculate as to what would cause them to do this. Review the statement of ethical professional practice shown in Exhibit 1.17 of Chapter 1 and comment on which, if any, of the ethical standards are violated by deliberately overestimating the useful lives of depreciable assets