Egac is a large company operating in the manufacturing industry with a fiscal year ending on 31 December. On 1 January 2021, Egac acquired a new machine that incorporated the latest available technology and was intended to make Egac’s production processes more efficient. Egac acquired the machine for a price of £320,000 and paid transportation costs of £12,500 as well as customs duties of £7,400; the customs duties could later be claimed back. For the subsequent measurement of the machine, Egac chose the cost model and the straight-line depreciation method. At initial recognition, Egac expected to be able to use the machine for ten years and to sell it after these ten years for a price of £52,500. In subsequent years, Egac revises its expectations upwards due to lower-than-expected wear of the machine. 

For the fiscal year ending on 31 December 2022, it expects to be able to use the machine for in total of eleven years but still to sell it at a price of £52,500 after these eleven years. For the fiscal year ending on 31 December 2023, Egac expects to be able to use the machine for in total of eleven years but to sell it at a price of £99,300 after these eleven years. 

REQUIRED: 

a) Explain the accounting treatment according to IAS 16 of each element listed above and prepare the journal entries for the initial recognition and subsequent measurement of the machine in Egac’s financial statements for fiscal years 2021, 2022, and 2023.  

b) At the end of the fiscal year 2024, a new technology offering the same benefits in the form of efficiency gains is introduced into the market at a substantially lower price than the technology on which Egac relies. Egac’s chief accountant concludes that this technology results in the need to impair the machine. For the impairment test, the chief accountant works with a current market price of the machine, including an adjustment due to wear, of £72,000, and costs to remove the machine of £1,950; with a value in use of £164,000; and with a carrying amount of the machine on 31 December 2024 of £239,300. Conduct the impairment test for the machine on 31 December 2024. Calculate all relevant amounts and, if applicable, prepare the relevant journal entries. Explain each of your steps. 

c) Accounting earnings management can be implicit. Briefly explain what implicit earnings management is and identify at least two examples from your above answers that Egac could use to manage earnings implicitly. For each example, explain how Egac could manage earnings upwards in a given year and how earnings in subsequent years would be affected.