Reference no: EM133188964
Question - Triangle, a public listed company, is in the process of preparing its draft financial statements for the year to 31 March 2020. The following matters have been brought to your attention:
(i) On 1 April 2019 the company brought into use a new processing plant that had cost £15 million to construct and had an estimated life of ten years. The plant uses hazardous chemicals which are put into containers and shipped abroad for safe disposal after processing. The chemicals have also contaminated the plant itself and this occurred as soon as the plant was used. It is a legal requirement that the plant is decontaminated at the end of its life. The estimated present value of the cost of this decontamination, using a discount rate of 8% per annum, is £5 million. The financial statements have been charged with £1. 5 million (£15 million/10 years) for plant depreciation and a provision of £500,000 (£5 million/10 years) has been made towards the cost of the decontamination.
(ii) On 15 May 2020 the company's auditors discovered a fraud in the material requisitions department. A senior member of staff who took up employment with Triangle in August 2019 had been authorising payments for goods that had never been received. The payments were made to a fictitious company that cannot be traced. The member of staff was immediately dismissed. Calculations show that the total amount of the fraud to the date of its discovery was £240,000 of which £210,000 related to the year to 31 March 2020. (Assume the fraud is material).
(iii) The company has contacted its insurers in respect of the above fraud. Triangle is insured for theft, but the insurance company maintains that this is a commercial fraud and is not covered by the theft clause in the insurance policy. Triangle has not yet had an opinion from its lawyers.
Required - Explain how the items in (i) to (iii) above should be treated in Triangle's financial statements for the year to 31 March 2020 in accordance with current international accounting standards. Your answer should quantify the amounts where possible.