Blogging Beyond the Numbers

When co-ops acquire new long-term debt, they often incur costs in conjunction with the process. These costs are commonly known as debt issuance costs. Such costs of obtaining financing – such as bank fees, accounting fees to prepare prospective presentations, and legal fees to draft the necessary documents – should not be expensed. In the past these costs have usually been capitalized as an asset accoun...

Cooperatives sometimes consider changing their year end to a new month or to a 52-53 week year ending on the same month. Most cooperatives seem to start up with a December year end. Larger food cooperatives gravitate to a June year end. One general guideline on choosing a year end is that the year should end on the strongest quarter or begin on the weakest quarter. Beginning on a weaker qu...

The rules for accounting for leases in a set of financial statements in accordance with GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) will change significantly starting in 2020. The logic for making the change is that balance sheets are currently very different for businesses that own a building compared to businesses that rent a building. To enhance comparability between businesses the Financial Accounti...

Highlights: Food must be given to a food pantry or similar nonprofit organization for feeding the ill, the needy, or infants. The deduction is the cost of the food plus the lesser of: One-half of the gross margin using the normal retail price, or The cost of the food. This makes the maximum deduction equal to twice the cost of the food.  In a food co-op 2a will almost always apply. ...