Expand Your Critical Thinking 9-7 Whispering Winds Corporation is suffering declining sales of its principal product, nonbiodegradeable plastic cartons. The president, Robert Griffin, instructs his controller, Alexis Landrum, to lengthen asset lives to reduce depreciation expense. A processing line of automated plastic extruding equipment, purchased for $3.18 million in January 2019, was originally estimated to have a useful life of 8 years and a salvage value of $300,000. Depreciation has been recorded for 2 years on that basis. Robert wants the estimated life changed to 12 years total, and the straight-line method continued. Alexis is hesitant to make the change, believing it is unethical to increase net income in this manner. Robert says, "Hey, the life is only an estimate, and I've heard that our competition uses a 12-year life on their production equipment." Is the change in asset life unethical? What is the effect of Robert Griffin's proposed change on income before taxes in the year of change? Income before income taxes in the year of change has by $ On December 1, Splish Brothers Inc. has three DVD players left in stock. All are identical, all are priced to sell at $155. One of the three DVD players left in stock, with serial #1012, was purchased on June 1 at a cost of $110. Another, with serial #1045, was purchased on November 1 for $99. The last player, serial #1056, was purchased on November 30 for $89. Calculate the cost of goods sold using the FIFO periodic inventory method assuming that two of the three players were sold by the end of December, Splish Brothers Inc. year-end. Cost of goods sold If Splish Brothers Inc. used the specific identification method instead of the FIFO method, how might it alter its earnings by "selectively choosing" which particular players to sell to the two customers? What would Splish Brothers's cost of goods sold be if the company wished to minimize earnings? Maximize earnings? Cost of goods sold would be $ if it wished to minimize the earnings. Cost of goods sold would be $ if it wished to maximize the earnings