Assessment Description

Assume that you are part of a team of graduate accountants working for Seachange Group Pty Ltd, an independent consulting & accounting firm situated at 58 Kirra Terrace, Brisbane, QLD 4000. The Manager of your firm, Ms Amanda Buchan, has asked you to draft a letter in response to an email received from Mr Mark Privilege, the CEO of Swing Strength Ltd (a public company), raising accounting issues - (please refer to the email on the next page).

ACC303 Assessment 3 - Email from the Client From: Mark Privilege To: Amanda Buchan Subject: Accounting Issues: Year Ending 30 June 2022 Sent: 30 May 2022 Dear Amanda, Thank you for your time today. As discussed, I am reaching out to you to discuss the following issues from our most recent board meeting. Jerry (our outgoing CFO) wasn't around to answer any of these questions, and therefore it was difficult for me to give an accurate response as I don't have an accounting background. Our company is currently reviewing a couple of investment proposals. First, one recommendation is to buy 25% of a Western Australian company (a family business). The family members would still own the remaining 75%. These guys manufacture some fantastic accessories, and they would be a great addition to our existing product lines. We are still negotiating a price. If we make this investment, does it mean we'll own 25% of all the assets and liabilities of this company? If so, could we sell these assets in the future if a need arise or if we get a favourable price? In the second proposal, we are considering buying another 35% of a New Zealand based company (we already own 15%). Would you be able to please shed some light on how to account for these two investments in our accounting records? As discussed, most of the board members, including myself, are very confused about the purpose of consolidation entries. Our accountant tells me we must delete certain accounting transactions before preparing the consolidated accounts. Is this true? If it is, I am flabbergasted as to why we are deleting transactions from our records. And more importantly, why are we wasting money recording these transactions in the first place. As I said, I am not an accountant, and therefore I would appreciate it if you could provide a couple of simple examples to support your views on this issue. The last issue is something that the external auditors raised to our audit committee. The auditors spoke to Jerry just before he left the company and were concerned about Jerry's lack of knowledge around accounting for goodwill. Jerry told the auditors that goodwill is the value associated with the business name, and therefore the goodwill amount is decided by the Board. He stated that if a business is famous and well-known within the community, the company can recognise goodwill in its books after consulting with some business valuation experts. Could you please clarify this goodwill issue for me? What is goodwill? Is it an asset? How should it be recognised? How do we use this goodwill? Do we need to depreciate it? Could we sell this goodwill? Would you mind responding by letter (not email) as I would like to present your views to our Board? I look forward to hearing from you shortly. Regards Mark Privilege CEO Swing Strength Ltd Level 5, 49 Pepper Street, Brisbane QLD 4000