Appearing next is information pertaining to Garrels Company's Allowance for doubtful accounts. Examine this information and answer the following questions.

Years Ended December 31,

($ in thousands) 2017 2016 2015

Allowance for doubtful accounts

Balance, beginning of year ? ? 1,324

Provision charged to expense ? 502 1,349

Write-offs, less recoveries 1 622 ?

Balance, end of year 1,453 ? 1,302

Required:

1. Solve for the unknowns in the preceding schedule. (Hint: Use T-accounts.)

2. Make all entries related to the Allowance for doubtful accounts account for 2015-2017.

3. Make all entries for bad debts for 2015-2017 assuming that Garrels did not accrue for

estimated bad debt losses but instead recorded its bad debt provisions once receivables

were determined to be uncollectible. (This is called the direct write-off method.)

4. Why does GAAP require the allowance method over the direct write-off method?

5. Calculate the cumulative difference in reported pre-tax income under the allowance and

direct write-off methods over the 2015-2017 period.

6. Assume that it is the end of 2018 and Garrels management is trying to decide on the

amount of the bad debt provision for 2018. Based on an aging of accounts receivable, the

accounting department feels that a $400,000 provision is appropriate. However, the company

just learned that a customer with an outstanding accounts receivable of $300,000

may have to file for bankruptcy. The decision facing Garrels management is whether to

increase the initial provision of $400,000 by $300,000, by some lesser amount, or by

nothing at all. What is your recommendation?

7. Continuing the scenario from requirement 6 now consider the following additional information.

Assume that you are a member of the company's compensation committee.

Assume further that the company's chief financial officer (CFO) is solely responsible for

deciding the amount of the bad debt provision to record and that the CFO has a cash

bonus plan that is a function of reported earnings before income taxes. Specifically,

assume that the CFO receives an annual cash bonus of zero if earnings before income

taxes is below $17 million and 10.0% of the amount by which earnings before income

taxes exceeds $17 million and up to a maximum bonus of $1 million (that is, when net income reaches $27 million, no further bonus is earned). What adjustment to the initial

$400,000 bad debt provision might the CFO make in each of the following scenarios?

Assume that the following earnings before income taxes include the initial $400,000 provision

for bad debts.

a. $11 million

b. $18.2 million

c. $38.25 million

d. $27.15 million

8. What other scenarios can you identify in which managers might use the provision for bad

debts to accomplish some contract-related strategy?

9. Identify other items in the financial statements (besides the bad debt provision) that managers

have the ability to "manage."