Babcock Company purchased a piece of machinery for $36,000 on January 1, 2019, and has been depreciating the machine using the sum-of-the-years'-digits method based on a five-year estimated useful life and no salvage value. On January 1, 2021, Babcock decided to switch to the straight-line method of depreciation. The salvage value is still zero and the estimated useful life is changed to a total of six years from the date of purchase. Ignore income taxes. Required: 1. Prepare the appropriate journal entry, if any, to record the accounting change under GAAP. 2. Prepare the journal entry to record depreciation for 2021.

Requirement 1:

Dr Accumulated Depreciation $9,600

Cr Retained Earnings  Account      $9,600

Requirement 2:

Dr Depreciation Expense $6,000

Cr Accumulated Depreciation $6,000

Explanation:

Year  Remaining Life of machine  Depreciation fraction

1                               5                                           5/15

2                              4                                           4/15

3                              3                                           3/15

4                              2                                           2/15

5                              1                                           1/15

Total                       15  

Now here, the depreciation formula is as under:

Depreciation expense = (Cost - Salvage Value) * Fraction value

Year 2019:

The sum of years digit fraction would be 5/15 and the cost of the machinery is $36,000. So

Depreciation Expense = ($36,000 - 0) * 5/15  = $12,000

Year 2020:

The sum of years digit fraction would be 5/15 and the cost of the machinery is $36,000. So

Depreciation Expense = ($36,000 - 0) * 4/15  = $9,600

Year 2021:

Now in this year the there is change in estimate and a switch in the use of the depreciation method, which is now straight line method. The change in estimate only includes the useful life of the asset which is 6 years from the date of purchase.

So for straight-line depreciation:

Depreciation Expense = (Cost - Salvage Value)  / Useful Life

By simply putting values, we have:

Depreciation Expense = $36,000 / 6 years = $6,000 per year

So this means, according to change in accounting policy, the excess depreciation charged must be eliminated from the previous years. The depreciation charge for the previous 2 years must be $12,000 and the excess depreciation charge is calculated as under:

Carrying value of the asset = $21,600 - $12,000  = $9,600

Requirement 1:

The double entry according to the US GAAP, for the excess depreciation charge in the previous years would be the waiving off of retained earnings with the excess depreciation amount calculated above.

Dr Accumulated Depreciation $9,600

Cr Retained Earnings  Account      $9,600

Requirement 2:

The depreciation expense for the year 2021, would be recorded as under:

Dr Depreciation Expense $6,000

Cr Accumulated Depreciation $6,000