Other Current and Noncurrent Assets, Including Notes Receivable

  • Identify other common non-current assets

 

Rights Under Lease

A lease is a contract to rent property. The property owner is the grantor of the lease and is the lessor. The person or company obtaining rights to possess and use the property is the lessee. The rights granted under the lease are a leasehold. The accounting for a lease depends on whether it is a capital lease or an operating lease. Each of these lease types will be defined below.

The FASB has wrestled with issues around leases for a long time, beginning with a time when some companies were leasing assets and recording them as purchased and other companies were recording the lease payments as expenses without recognizing the asset.

The initial solution was to categorize some leases as capital leases, which are essentially purchases of the asset. More recently, the FASB issued accounting guidance that requires assets and liabilities arising from almost all leases to be recorded on the balance sheet, along with additional required disclosures regarding the amount, timing, and uncertainty of cash flows from leases.

If you look at Facebook:

FACEBOOK INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
(in millions, except for number of shares and par value)
Description December 31,
Description 2019 2018
Category, Assets
Subcategory, Current Assets:
     Cash and cash equivalents $     19,079 $     10,019
     Marketable securities 35,776 31,095
     Accounts receivable, net of allowances of $206 and $229 as of December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively 9,518 7,587
          Total current assets Single line
66,225
Single line
50,480
Property and equipment, net 35,323 24,683
Operating lease right-of-use assets, net 9,460
Intangible assets, net 894 1,294
Goodwill 18,715 18,301
Other Assets 2,759 2,576
Total assets Single line
$     133,376
Double line
Single line
$     97,334
Double line

 

And The Home Depot:

THE HOME DEPOT INC.
CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET
in millions, except per share data February 2, 2020 February 3, 2019
Category, Assets
Subcategory, Current Assets:
     Cash and cash equivalents $     2,133 $     1,778
     Receivables, net 2,106 1,936
     Merchandise inventories 14,531 13,925
          Total current assets Single line
19,810Double line
Single line
18,529Double line
Net property and equipment 22,770 22,375
Operating lease right-of-use assets 5,595
Goodwill 2,254 2,252
Other Assets 807 847
Total assets Single line
$     51,236
Double line
Single line
$     44,003
Double line

 

You can see the effect of this new GAAP. There is a line called “operating lease right-of-use-assets” that did not exist in prior years. This reflects the value of being able to use assets, like buildings, automobiles, and equipment, that are not included in property, plant, and equipment because the leases are not classified as capital leases.

The process of developing this new accounting pronouncement and the logic behind it are outlined in the Update 2016-02—Leases (TOPIC 842) SECTION C—Background Information and Basis for Conclusions.

The final major asset category we will examine in detail is notes receivable, which, like investments, can either be a short-term or long-term asset, depending on the maturity date.

Notes Receivable

As discussed earlier, a note (also called a promissory note) is an unconditional written promise by a borrower to pay a definite sum of money to the lender (payee) on demand or on a specific date. On the balance sheet of the lender (payee), a note is a receivable. A customer may give a note to a business for an amount due on an account receivable, or for the sale of a large item such as a refrigerator. Also, a business may give a note to a supplier in exchange for merchandise to sell or to a bank or an individual for a loan. Thus, a company may have notes receivable or notes payable arising from transactions with customers, suppliers, banks, or individuals.

Most promissory notes have an explicit interest charge. Interest is the fee charged for use of money over a period. To the maker of the note, or borrower, interest is an expense; to the payee of the note, or lender, interest is a revenue. A borrower incurs interest expense; a lender earns interest revenue. For convenience, bankers sometimes calculate interest on a 360-day year; we calculate it on that basis in this text. (Some companies use a 365-day year.)

The basic formula for computing interest is:

[latex]\text{principal}\times\text{interest rate}\times\text{frequency of a year}[/latex]

Remember that principal is the face value of the note, and interest on the note is always stated at an annual rate (even if the term of the note is for a period of less than a year). Frequency of a year is the amount of time for the note and can be either days or months. We need the frequency of a year because the interest rate is an annual rate and we may not want interest for an entire year but just for the time period of the note.

To show how to calculate interest, assume a company borrowed $20,000 from a bank. The note has a principal (face value) of $20,000, an annual interest rate of 10%, and a life of 90 days. The interest calculation is:

[latex]\$20,000\text{ principal}\times10\%\text{ interest rate}\times\left(\dfrac{90\text{ days}}{360\text{ days}}\right)=\$500[/latex]

Note that in this calculation we expressed the time period as a fraction of a 360-day year because the interest rate is an annual rate and the note life was days. If the note life was months, we would divide by 12 months for a year.

The maturity date is the date on which a note becomes due and must be paid. Sometimes notes require monthly installments (or payments) but usually all of the principal and interest must be paid at the same time. The wording in the note expresses the maturity date and determines when the note is to be paid. A note falling due on a Sunday or a holiday is due on the next business day. Several examples of typical maturity date wording are presented in the section on Accrued Interest Revenue.

Sometimes a company receives a note when it sells high-priced merchandise; more often, a note results from the conversion of an overdue account receivable. When a customer does not pay an account receivable that is due, the company may insist that the customer give a note in place of the account receivable. This action allows the customer more time to pay the balance due, and the company earns interest on the balance until paid. Also, the company may be able to sell the note to a bank or other financial institution.

To illustrate the conversion of an account receivable to a note, assume that Price Company had purchased $18,000 of merchandise on August 1 from Cooper Company on account. The normal credit period has elapsed, and Price cannot pay the invoice. Cooper agrees to accept Price’s $18,000, 15%, 90-day note dated September 1 to settle Price’s open account. Assuming Price paid the note at maturity and both Cooper and Price have a December 31 year-end, the entries on the books of Cooper are:

Journal
Date Description Post. Ref. Debit Credit
Aug 1 Accounts Receivable—Price Company 18,000
Aug 1 Sales 18,000
Aug 1 To record sale of merchandise on account.
Sept 1 Notes Receivable 18,000
Sept 1 Accounts Receivable 18,000
Sept 1 To record exchange of a note from Price Company for open account.
Nov. 30 Cash 18,675
Nov. 30 Notes Receivable 18,000
Nov. 30 Interest Revenue [18,000 x 15% x (90/360)] 675
Nov. 30 To record receipt of Price Company note principal and interest.

Note: Maturity date calculated as November 30 since it was a 90 day note − 29 days left in September (30 days in Sept − note day Sept 1) − 31 days in October leaves 30 days remaining in November.

The $18,675 paid by Price to Cooper is called the maturity value of the note. Maturity value is the amount that the company (maker) must pay on a note on its maturity date; typically, it includes principal and accrued interest, if any.

Sometimes the maker of a note does not pay the note when it becomes due. The next section describes how to record a note not paid at maturity.

A dishonored note is a note that the maker failed to pay at maturity. Since the note has matured, the holder or payee removes the note from Notes Receivable and records the amount due in Accounts Receivable.

At the maturity date of a note, the maker is responsible for the principal plus interest. The payee should record the interest earned and remove the note from its Notes Receivable account. Thus, the payee of the note should debit Accounts Receivable for the maturity value of the note and credit Notes Receivable for the note’s face value and Interest Revenue for the interest.

Journal
Date Description Post. Ref. Debit Credit
Nov. 30 Accounts Receivable—Price Company 18,675
Nov. 30 Notes Receivable 18,000
Nov. 30 Interest Revenue 675
Nov. 30 To record dishonor of Price Company note.
You can view the transcript for “Interest Bearing Notes Receivable Entries (Intermediate Financial Accounting I #10)” here (opens in new window).