Business Research Report Assignment Sample

Introduction: Business Report Introduction Comparing PPE Disclosures Assignment Sample

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PPE disclosure stands for the analysis of the property, plant, and equipment of the firm. This disclosure demands the basis of the measurement, the method of depreciation, estimated useful lives, the gross carrying amount and impairment losses, and the reconciliation of those amounts at the start and at the end. This present business research report consists of an analysis of the accounting policy, the measurement of PPE, and the recommendation regarding the standard setters of the accounting policy of two Australia-based retail companies Harvey Norman Holdings and Wesfarmers Ltd.

Harvey Norman is a big multinational retail company, situated in Auburn consisting of furniture, bedding, communication, and electrical products. This company was founded in 1982. Another company Wesfarmers Ltd. was founded in 1914 and situated in Perth. This is a retail company of chemicals, industry, safety products, and fertilizer. This is a multinational company too but it holds a strong position in the market of Australia and New Zealand.

Review and evaluation of PPE disclosure of Wesfarmers Limited and Harvey Norman Holdings Limited

Range of measures

Various measures are taken to determine the PPE disclosure by the two organizations. Here the two organizations are Wesfarmers Limited and Harvey Norman Holdings Limited. PPE stands for Property, Plant, and Equipment.

Measures taken by Wesfarmers

Wesfarmers is a retail organization that uses various measures to deter its PPE. The revenue of the organization is set to be $ 36838 million collected from ordinary activities (wesfarmers.com, 2022). The revenue goes up and down compared to different years. Therefore various measures like an increase in sales, and advertisements are used to promote the products of the company to their consumers to help them to increase their revenue. An increase in revenue will help to determine the amount of PPE disclosure.

Figure 1: Current assets of Wesfarmers

(Source: statista.com, 2022)

Wesfarmers is seen to have total assets of 27,271 which are determined by calculating the number of assets present in different sectors of the organization (investing.com, 2022). It helps them to produce an economic return for the organization. From the above graph it is seen that the current assets as of June 2022 were $9.61. Different equipment used by the organization includes different products sold by the organization which includes Blackwood, Greencap, Bullivants, Coregas, Blackwoods Protector, and many more (Abuter et al. 2019). To prepare these products there are certain expenses to buy the raw materials that are needed to be fulfilled by the organization. Therefore Wesfarmers uses the increase in revenue measure to deal with such an issue.

Measures were taken by Harvey Norman

Harvey Norman also uses various measures to determine its PPE disclosure. It is somewhat similar to that of Wesfarmers where the organization tries to increase its overall revenue to measure its Property and plant. 

Figure 2: Revenue history of Harvey Norman

(Source: companiesmarketcap.com)

It has current revenue of $2.85B the revenue is seen to have decreased compared to the previous year 2021 where the revenue was seen to be $3.11B (companiesmarketcap.com, 2022). Since there is a decrease in revenue, the sales will consequently decrease as a result which will affect determining the Property and Pant properties for Harvey Norman. Different products sold are Vacuum Cleaners, Steam Cleaners, Washing machines, and many more (Hyland et al. 2020). All these include the equipment possessed by the organization which helps to determine the Equipment part of the PPE.

Addition of items in the measurement

The measures mentioned in the above section can be used to add to the items. According to my observation, the above-mentioned measure includes an increase in revenue, an increase in the number of assets, and an increase in the number of products sold by the organization. I think the increase in revenue can help organizations to increase their sales and there will be greater productivity within the organization (Anghel et al. 2019). Both organizations will benefit by increasing their overall revenue which can consecutively help them to measure the PPE disclosure. An increase in revenue can help organizations increase the number of assets within their organization, and an increase in the number of assets can help them to increase their productivity within their organization. On the other hand, I think adding similar products to increase sales will hamper the revenue of the organization as more expenses will be required to make similar products that may not be in public demand.

The increase in revenue measure has several other benefits that can help organizations to grow their business. Here Wesfarmers and Harvey Norman also get a lot of benefits from increasing their revenues (Al-Ghouti and Da'ana, 2020). These benefits help them to measure the PPE disclosure and subsequently the items added to their organization also become quite reasonable which helps their organization grow. Property assets belonging to the organizations need proper maintenance from time to time else the quality can be degraded and later can be very expensive to do the repair work. An increase in the expenses for repair work will definitely decrease the revenue. According to my observation, the cost of the assets needs to be calculated regularly as it can help to identify the cost of expenditure. Therefore, it is reasonable to add different assets as it can help to increase their revenue. Adding similar products to organizational equipment can increase the cost of expenditure thereby decreasing their revenue significantly. Therefore, I do not think that it is a good idea to add similar products to their organization as it definitely decreases their revenue thereby decreasing their sales.

Interpretation of the total amount for property, plant, and equipment 500

Interpretation for Wesfarmers

The Wesfarmers organization is seen to have various ups and downs in different years in terms of sales, Sales growth year-wise, and cost of goods sold every year. All these states are the property of the organization. The sales decreased in the year 2022 from 33797 in 2021 to 36679 (Wsj.com, 2021). As a result, the net worth of the organization decreased in the market which resulted in a significant amount of loss for the organization. The percentage of sales growth also decreased from 9.90% in 2021 to 8.53% in 2022(Wsj.com, 2021). This restricts the amount of revenue earned by the organization as a result there will be less productivity within the organization. On a five-year basis, the sales growth is seen to decline every year as a result there is a considerable amount of loss incurred by the organization on a yearly basis (Li et al. 2020). The cost of goods sold every year is seen to increase every year which is a good sign for the organization as it means that the consumers like the products sold by Wesfarmers as a result people buy their products in large quantities. The cost of equipment is also seen to increase as there are unusual expenses incurred by the organization. The unusual expenses generally come from spending money on similar products in the market that does not bring large consumers. There is also internet expense growth that is required to be fulfilled by the Wesfarm organization.

Interpretation of Harvey Norman

The earnings of Harvey Norman are seen to be going up and down every year depending on the profit they earn. The earning of the organization has a direct impact on the overall revenue of the organization (Azodi et al. 2020). On a five-year basis the earnings are seen to gradually increase in small amounts but in the current year it seems to be decreasing significantly. This variation in the earning leads to an unstable organization where it cannot focus on improving its assets and quality within their organization. As a result there will not be massive growth in the organization. In the year 2022 the total earning of the organization is seen to be $0.78B and there is seen to be a percentage change of -11.69% compared to previous year (companiesmarketcap.com, 2022). From the year 2019 to 2021 there is seen to be a gradual increase in their earnings in 2019 it was seen to be $0.40B, in 2020 it was $0.45B which is a change percentage of 2.87%, in 2021 it was seen to be $0.88B which is again an increase of 95.52%. According to my observation the earnings can be kept stable by producing a variety of new products to their consumers that will not help them to attract a large number of customers but also allow them to increase their revenue which can eventually help to manage the PPE disclosure. The overall financial outcome can also be seen to gradually increase every year which helps to increase their revenue.

Comparison of the measures in two companies Wesfarmers Limited and Harvey Norman Holdings Limited

Both organizations are seen to take similar measures but tend to have different core values within their organization. In Wesfarmers limited the organization values integrity which demands employees to behave honestly and be ethical with respect to all dealings made by the organization. This has a direct impact on the measures taken by the organization to manage PPE disclosure. The organization has an openness towards being honest to give various feedbacks and ideas. This helps to bring about innovative ideas within the organization and help in the productivity of the organization. If productivity increases the revenue also increases which again has a direct impact on their PPE disclosure. It also focuses on understanding people's problems and mistakes and trying to rectify them to get the desired outcome. This helps to be a versatile organization as they are ready to accept their mistakes and rectify them.

Harvey Norman focuses on creating a culture that is positive, optimistic, and is an enjoyable place to work at. This helps their employees to work freely and also helps them to express their ideas publicly. This helps create innovative products thereby producing quality products and quality products can increase the sales of the organization. This helps to earn greater revenue thereby contributing towards measures of managing PPE disclosure. The organization serves keeping in mind the needs of their consumers which helps them to contribute towards the measures that they take to handle PPE disclosure.

They generally tend to put high value on their products as they try to meet the needs of their consumers. On the other hand Wesfarmers tend to value doing things in the right way where they may not value their products as much as Harvey Norman would do.

Factors affecting accounting policy relating to PPE.

Accounting policies refer to the basis, principles, rules, regulations, and practices of the company of company to formulate the financial statement. The accounting policy of a company includes the cost principle, the matching principle, the principles regarding objectivity, and the principle of revenue recognition (Valentin, et al. 2019). The PPE in accounting policy is the aspect that concerns the financial statement regarding a company’s investment in the property, plant, and equipment of the company. Basically, this relates to the accounting of the company on the basis of the property, plant, and equipment of the company.

Figure 3: Revenue of the Harvey Norman

(Source: asx.com, 2020)

Accounting for property: Harvey Norman Holding is a company that follows an accounting policy which is the AASB 16 leases. Such kind of accounting standards is mainly brought into the market by the Australian Accounting standard. This accounting standard introduced a business process that recognizes the assets and liabilities of the company over a period of more than 12 months. The company noticed a result of an increase in investment of $7.04 million for the company over 12 months of time in the year 2020 (harveynormanholdings.com, 2022). The company maintains this accounting standard in the other warehouses and retail stores situated in different countries.

Impairment of assets: When the amount of carrying out for an asset or a unit regarding the cash generation of the company crosses the limitation of its recoverable amount. The annual report of the company suggested impairment of assets for the company. This suggested the company document all assets in their balance sheet and at their actual market value.

Impact of Covid 19: the company suffered a lot during the pandemic and was forced to adapt some changes in its strategy. The company reported approximately a 30% reduction in sales which lead the company to reduce several designations in the company such as the job keeper. The salaries of the employees of the company decreased during that time.

In the case of Wesfarmers ltd. it has been seen that the group has emphasized its accounting policy for liabilities that are related to the benefits of the employees. This policy includes share-based payments. As per the trends of the Australian market, the employees are familiar with receiving a fixed contribution from the company. The prepaid contributions are encouraged by the employees (Vasilenko et al. 2019). Such trends definitely affect the accounting policy of the company.

The company possesses a diversified business operation. As the company has many products, they have to originate an accounting policy with different layers. The key factors that affected the accounting policy related to PPE disclosure of the company are identified as follows. The derecognition of the employees, goodwill related to the amortization, and the impairment of the assets are the most significant factors that affect or influence the change in the accounting policy of the company (Arniati et al. 2019). The effect of tax in the case of adjustment of fair value in the acquisition and the earnings of the associates that are untaxed may be the reason for changing the accounting policy. The valuation of adjusting the inventory, and increased insurance liabilities also be the reason for changing policies regarding accounting.

Detailed view of the measurement of PPE

PPE is generally measured according to its cost. It is depreciated as the depreciable amount can be allocated to other systematic bases over its useful life. A detailed view of the measurement of the PPE of Wesfarmers Ltd. has been discussed. The annual value of the revenue of PPE of the company is 4% lower than the last year. It resulted that the capital expenditure of the company increasing by 39.9% more than the previous year (wesfarmers.com.au, 2020). The net working capital of the company was $3,496 million in the year 2021 and $3,632 million in the year 2022. The gross capital expenditure was higher in 2021 which was $264 and in 2022 it is $260. The non-current assets of the company were $3,496 in the previous year, now it has become & 3,621 (wesfarmers.com.au, 2020). The net cash flow of the operating service is so important in the context of the PPE disclosure of the company. The all total payments of the company regarding PPE this year is $802.

Recognition and measurement: The cost of the asset involves the cost of replacing parts as well. This enables the eligibility of capitalization and the cost associated with the major inspection.

Depreciation and amortization: Depreciation has been noticed on a straight-line basis over the useful lives of them the items of property, plants, and equipment. The assumed useful lives of the buildings were between 20 to 40 years and the plants and equipment were three to forty years (Marco et al. 2019). Land cannot be depreciated. The improvement regarding the leaseholds is amortized based on the anticipation of the improved useful life that is shorter.

Derecognition: The items of PPE are derecognized when it is perceived that it has no future economic benefit, or when the items are sold or disposed of.

Harvey Norman is one of the most successful retail companies in Australia. The PPE of a company is the fixed assets and it is also referred to as the non-current assets. In the year 2021, the company’s net PPE got increased from June to December of this year, it again increased from December to June of the next year. The annual net PPE got increased in 2020 from June 2020 to June 2021. PPE includes the assets of the company that will use in the normal course of the business. This is impossible to use in the next year or become a part of the products that are sold to consumers. The common parts of the PPE of the company are the land, buildings, transportation equipment, office furniture, and equipment. Therefore, PPE is directly connected with the profitability of the company. The company has a durable advantage in the context of competitiveness which is why the company does not demand frequent upgradation of the PPE. In case the company is not in that comfortable position then it is required to upgrade its equipment.

Recommendation to accounting standard setters

This is recommended to both companies in the context of disclosure of PPE to disclose the bases of the measurement, the method of depreciation, and the useful lives. This is important to reveal the gross amount of carrying out the depreciation that is accumulative at the start and the end of the periods (Barker et al. 2022). Here another significant area is revealed the reconciliation of the carrying out the amount for the two companies. When the company is under review they must consider and review the significance of the expenses regarding the depreciation. This has an impactful role for Wesfarmers and Harvey Norman retailer company to identify if the useful lives of the company are definite or indefinite. After the identification, it is required to state the reason for considering the assets as definite or indefinite.

This is relevant in the context of changing accounting policies the companies are required to assess the valuation of inventory and investment. The valuation of the assets that are fixed and the method of depreciation can be included in the accounting policy with the modification of their processes (Panteleiev, 2020). Two more important things that are needed to be involved in the accounting policy are the translation of foreign currency and the cost of R & D.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be said to both Wesfarmers Ltd, and Harvey Norman Holdings there are various measures that are used to review and evaluate the disclosure regarding the PPE of the companies. After the pandemic, both of the companies experience growth in the context of the revenue of the company and the current assets of the company. The key findings of the several factors that affect PPE disclosure are associated with the revelation of the company's disclosure associated with the gross amount of carrying out, accounting policy of the companies, methods of depreciation, and many other things. The measurement elements of the PPE are associated with the recognition of the assets, derecognition of the assets, amortization, and several other things.

References

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