Accounting Theory and Current Issues BSF Ltd

Question: Discuss about the Accounting Theory and Current Issues for BSF Ltd. Answer: Introduction The scope of this paper investigates the application of accounting set theories on the emerging issues. An example of contemporary issues discussed within this paper is nature, and presentation of accounting principles in research and development companies. Bio-sustainable Feeds (BSF) is one of the firms in the industry carrying out research in Australia in the aqua food production sector. Bio sustainable food has been listed among companies in the Australian stock exchange market. The company operation has been under criticisms by the environmentalists who view its operations negatively. Based on the accounting and business arguments as well as theories, all companies has got patent right to their products. Therefore a company should be held accountable for they have produced. Bio-sustainable industry produced a plant based aqua culture food products which never yield better results as per the expectations and ended up losing huge sum of money in the process (Cagan, 2008). The scope of this paper also exploits accounting theories in relation to the current issues like BSF Ltd. The paper exploits the current issues in relation to accounting theory and Bio-sustainable fish feed company. Nature and value to society of the research being done by BSF Ltd The kind of research being conducted by the company is a developmental research. It is an RD research project which aims at improving food production in Australia as a whole if it succeeds. The aqua feed research is an experimental based research which requires a lot of experimentation to ensure its success. BSF LTD research can also be seen as an applied research in which a party such as agencies and society must benefit from. It includes risks due to the point that it is both field and trial. The research being done by the company is of a great to the public in several ways (Gilbertson Lehman, 2011). Even though a lot capital is invested into the research, its fruits will help eradicate the world hunger in future. BSF Ltd has tried their best trying to provide continuous fish supply into the markets reducing the rate of hunger. BSF ltd current research is to the public rescue since it involves recycling of waste products in the creation of a better and fast growing fish. The resea rch indicates that most of the ingredients required for such fish feed are waste products (Ovchinnikova, 2011). The company intends to use bacteria in their manufacturing which may not be too much burden to the society. Wood chips are waste products, woodchips are cheaper to acquire, readily available and has no biological effects on the consumers who are members of society. Another raw material for the production is a recycled methane gas which does not require much capital. Manufacture of these aqua feed is safer to environment as many of the production materials are environmental pollutants. Sugar residue, methane and wood chips are discarded products whose help in the elimination of pollutants in the surrounding. This results into reduced rate of disease contraction by the public. Production of aqua feed according to BSF ltd in such away has got a positive impact to members of the society. The kind fish kept with such kind of feed has its omega oil intact and matures faster compared to the normal. The faster growth of fish will result in increased food supply to the society reducing hunger levels in Australia in future. Success of this research will lead to reduction of the deviation between the haves and the have not as witnessed in the preceding farming method where only the rich could afford fish. The society values this research since it has resulted into prevention of human quality food waste. Conversion of human food product into fish meal was a great challenge to Australian society and resulted to malnutrition and starvation as quality human food was used to grow luxurious fish which majority could not afford. Biotechnological aqua food invention will lead to spreading out of aqua culture within the Australian society. Emergence of several aqua farms me ans establishment of job opportunities facilitating economic empowerment of a given society. This kind of investment is substantial to the community as it facilitates its progress as well as boosting its economic stability. Complications with the initial research conducted by BSF Ltd. The $360 million AUD research investment performed by Bio-sustainable Feeds (BSF) Ltd has got a lot of drawbacks to the company itself, economy and Australian society. The research was not conducted with the contemplation of human nutrition, survival mechanism of various types of fish and finally the economic status of individual citizen. The shift from aqua meal to planted produce was too expensive compared to bacteria production of aqua feed. Planted ingredients such as canola, corn, soya-bean, sunflower and other farm products were expensive compared to bacteria production which majors in recycling of waste products (Jung, 1996). The company spent a lot in the purchases of raw materials without speculation of what may happen in future. Due to the problem of consideration of the future the never conducted an experiment thus leading to a loss of $120 million AUD. The research never considered a deeper study on the diet of various type of fish which ended up dead resulting into a hug e collapse of money. BFS Ltd industry never considered the consequences of farm based fish feed to species of fish and to human nutrition as revealed by Jillian Fry, director of CLF's Public Health and Sustainable Aquaculture Project and a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins. Farm produced fish acquire omega 3 fatty acid from other products especially fish oil. The research produced expensive small fish which were only affordable for the rich. In any case where only a given part of a population can afford a product, market becomes limited due reduced demand. Such scenarios leads to imbalanced equilibrium in the supply and demand as well as unstable economy ( Academy of Accounting Historians, 2007). Additional problem with the research to consider the importance of the raw materials to the third party and human nutrition. Most of the farm products used in manufacturing of aqua feed are basic and human high quality food crops. This kind of fish farming led to human starvation since th eir basic food were being converted into fish meal. In consideration of human nutrition the end fish products from this shift were of low quality and could lead to health issues and complications. The type of fish produced during the first production showed reduced weight rather than improving on the weight. Nature, accounting and comparison between general research and RD Accounting in RD is the consideration of expenses and revenues over a given period of time. The cost allocated for development should match expenses and revenues. All assets purchased in development are expensed. This capitalization of assets in the development is considered as an expense since they are meant to generate income in future (De, 2000). Development expenditures are formed with the expectation of future profits and products of measurement. From the given case Bio sustainable company is operating as RD. Therefore all costs of the company according to Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) shall be considered as expense. This kind of assumption comes as a result of uncertainty concerning profits that will be generated by the research company in future. As discussed prior there must be a match between the revenues of BSF Company and the expenses. The matching principle in the RD accounts usually applicable after a period of time mostly ten years. For example investment of large amount of by the company to acquire raw materials is considered as an expense which is expected to create a revenue of the same amount. In any case bio sustainable fish food fails in their investment the company will not have any revenue since all assets are treated as expenses. On the other hand the company may decide to capitalize the expenses to secure some as revenue in any cases of failure. This means that there are high possibilities that the RD will lead to future economic benefit. When investments are capitalized in the consideration of the prevailing technology and availability of raw, materials. Company accountants are able to justify putting various investment transactions on their balance sheets. Development has a lot of benefits and advantages compared to general research and has attracted several investors in recent past. General research is road and requires a lot of funding which has got no sure benefit in return. Investors enjoy tax breaks in which tax are often deductible but some are not deductible. General development research such as market research and assessment research are not subject to taxation making many investors to get into development research. Development allows more cost effective investment thus increasing the profit margin (Voisey MIT Japan Program, 1993). In terms of financing RD enjoy the benefits of funding from other parties like established companies. Such companies enjoy qualified employees since many of graduates tend to join these companies. The above reasons makes several firms to RD industry to enjoy the benefits and exploit the available economies of scale Development is an application of already conducted research on a particular field. For instance in the case of BFS company expressing into aqua meal production after their research is development. Development utilizes the research finding and outcome to come up with a specific end product as seen in the case of BSF ltd. The nature of development involve use of specific raw material in the line of production, specific systems and finally clearly identified methods. Development is a sub branch of a general research which deals with the generation of a more indispensable understanding and deigns important in manufacturing of the model (Conference on a New Architecture for the U.S. National Accounts et al, 2006). On the other hand research is defined as an indefinite investigation. It targets a more general field in comparison to development which is more specific. For instance if BSF Ltd was a general research facility it could have conducted a more broad research rather than plant base d, fish based and bacteria based fish feed. Research works on a broad perspective while development only apply to the last part and on a specific finding. General research requires large amount of money while development is specific thus specific budget. The accountings in general research differs from that of development since only expenses are accounted. All company assets are not expenses as seen in development. Fair market value patent assumptions and calculations Development based research companies like BFS ltd have patent for their products. Calculation of the patent value according to GAAP involves appropriate assumptions to come up with the fair values (W. In the case of Bio-sustainable, the company received a lot of grants from Australian government research sector (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) the company agrees to spend the money in two years and the addition ten years. The assumption on the calculations of the patent value under combination of discounted cash flow and real option method. The method assumes that a sole biotechnology firm has ten years. Since BSF ltd is among the biotech industry the sum of total year applies and addition two years of agreement (Carpenter Mahoney, 2008). Fair market patent is probably the most recognized standard of patent calculation. Calculation of patent is recognized by bio sustainable food company as the most standard appropriate method to cover their patent rights within the market. In order to arrive to the fair market value, several approaches can be used. These approaches have been put in place by GAAP other framework organizations to help in identifying the nature of the company patent right (New York University, 1989). The company in this case operates under the grants of $500 million from the government therefore the nature of patent is calculated based on the royalty determination methods. Income based approaches methods are based on the future cash flows from the royalty grants. The discounted cash flow (DFC) is the basic tool appropriate in the determination of fair market patent. Patent valuation technique is applicable in this situation since probability adjustment can be determined. Identifying fair market patent depends on the creation of intellectual property (Ratzinger, 2011). Applying the approach to BSF research and development of fish food made from bacteria as a raw material and other recycled raw materials such as methane. The company is determined to find the most suitable fish food production to facilitate aqua culture. Therefore in these case fair market value (FMV) would be equal to cost of new replacement (CRN) less physical depreciation (PD), functional obsolescence (FO) and economic obsolescence (EO). FMV = CRN PD FO EO (Foroghi Shahhahani, 2012). To arrive to fair market value the (DCF) method is integrated with other patent calculation methods resulting to fair market patent indication. (10yers +2yrs= 12 years). The DCF market value* (1+factor %) = patent fair value indication. The value lies two methods as shown. The NVP = $ 700000000 *(1+8.0) = $630000000. Therefore fair patent value =Preliminary DCF value (1 + factor %) = Patent fair market value indication (Adeem, 2010). Methods integrated during fair market value calculation includes competitive advantage valuation which most of the time contradicts other methods. The competitive advantage contribution of an intellectual property asset is defined as the asset's advantages or disadvantages in comparison to an average substitute intellectual property asset. The major premise of the CAV method is that the value of an intellectual property asset derives entirely from the value of the product, process or service that utiliz es the intellectual property asset (United States, 2003). The petty principle of the CAV method is that the value of an intellectual property asset can best be identified by the competitive advantage that it contributes to a product, process or service. BSF journal entries for BSF LTD. Bio sustainable aqua culture food operates as an RD therefore the kind of transactions made between the period ended 2013 and 2016 can be presented in the books of account (DeFond, Francis Hu, 2008.). The nature of accounts in research and development RD is different from other normal business transactions. Therefore the company operations is considered as long term assets. Bio sustainable aqua feed Journal Entries for Purchase of long lived assets from 2013 to 2016 Balance brought forward from the previous business operation Debit ($) Credit ($) Balance brought forward $ 34000000 Research and development costs are an expense; therefore, those costs incurred by the company cannot be amortized. Will only be decreased for any impairment to its market value. Goodwill will never be increased in value due to an increase in its market value. BSF Ltd. received a $500 million AUD grant from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO, Federal Government of Australia Grants Debit ($) Credit ($) CSIRO, Federal Government of Australia $ 500000000 Cash $ 500000000 Research and development cost are to be treated not as an intangible asset but only as an expense. particulars Debit credit facility $160000000 cash $160000000 Cost involve in transporting Particulars Debit credit transport $200000000 Cash $200000000 In consideration of $500 million AUD grant from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO, Federal Government of Australia) the right place is the credit since the company is to refund back the money (Griliches, 1998). All the liabilities such the grant is debited since it is the companies responsibility to refund back the money to the owners after the purpose is met (ROSTEN 2013). In the research and development a third party such as the agencies are beneficiaries thus any funding from them is a liability to the research company such as BSF Ltd. Management asserted in a prospectus of patent value Bio-sustainable Feed has got the patent right to access the bacteria since they had operated a food company before. The company had early operated in aquaculture food production for the last period before venturing into the new technology where bacteria is used as a raw material for production (Ebrary, 2002). The assertion is true since the patent rights allow RD companies to utilize complementary resources to bring their final idea into the market. Therefore BSF ltd is permitted to access bacteria from the previous company. The issue of going concern has been put into practice to facilitate the investment. Conclusion The above discussion explains various current concerns relating to accounting theory. Research and development has been among the current issues discussed within the context of the paper (Bader, 2006). Development has become an issue in accounting sector and should be looked keenly to ensure that tit is perfectly developed. The fair patent right is also an issue that company management should consider in relation to what has been discussed below. References United States. (2003). Pharmaceutical R D: Costs, risks, and rewards. Washington, D.C.: Office of Technology Assessment. Al-Adeem, K. R. (2010). Accounting Theory: A Neglected Topic in academic accounting research (Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University). Foroghi, D., Shahhahani, A. M. (2012). Audit Firm Size and Going-Concern Reporting. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 18(2), 1093-1098. Ratzinger, N. (2011). Auditors Discretionary Scope of ActionGerman Evidence from Audit and Non-audit Fees and Going Concern Emphasis of Matter Paragraphs. 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