You are an accountant at a large research university. The controller is considering switching its accounting policy so that it is ine with other universities. The current policy requires all assets be depreciated on a straight$-$line basis with no salvage value and a full year of depreciation taken in the year of acquisition regardless of the acquisition date. The proposed policy would require all asset depreciated on a straight$-$line basis with no salvage value and depreciation taken based on the nearest full month from the acquisition date.

The data provided shows all assets that are in use even though some assets have already been fully depreciated. The controller has provided a dashboard visualization that shows the differences between the two depreciation policies for the period ending December $31,2018$ and asks you to answer the questions below.

Click here to view the data in Tableau, and here to view it in Power BI$.($The Tableau and Power BI files contain the same data; you can use either to answer the questions in this assignment. Your instructor may specify which program they prefer you to use!$)$

How to Access Tableau: You can open the Tableau file in this problem statement with Tableau Desktop software. If you don't have Tableau Desktop, you can download Tableau Reader, a free program that allows you to open Tableau visualizations. To get it$,$ search for "Tableau Reader" in your internet browser, or click here.

How to Access Power BI: You can open the Power BI file in this problem statement with Power BI Desktop. If you don't have it already, search for "Power BI download" in your internet browser, or click here for a free download.

Explain what effect the depreciation policy change will have on the income statement and the balance sheet.