Volkswagen Group reports the following information for property, plant and equipment as of December 31, 2010, along with additions, disposals, depreciation, and impairments for the year ended December 31, 2010 (euros in millions):
Property, plant and equipment, net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . € 25,847
Additions to property, plant and equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,634
Disposals of property, plant and equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,522
Depreciation on property, plant and equipment . . . . . . . . . 4,731
Impairments to property, plant and equipment . . . . . . . . . . 451
1. Prepare Volkswagen’s journal entry to record its depreciation for 2010.
2. Prepare Volkswagen’s journal entry to record its additions for 2010 assuming they are paid in cash and are treated as “betterments (improvements)” to the assets.
3. Prepare Volkswagen’s journal entry to record its € 2,522 in disposals for 2010 assuming it receives € 700 cash in return and the accumulated depreciation on the disposed assets totals € 1,322.
4. Volkswagen reports € 451 of impairments. Do these impairments increase or decrease the property, plant and equipment account? And, by what amount?