Question

Ballou Corporation declared a cash dividend on December 13, 2018, payable on January 10, 2019. By mistake, the company failed to make a journal entry in December 2018. The effect of this error on the financial statements as of December 31, 2018 were:_____.
a. retained earnings was overstated and liabilities were understated.
b. retained earnings was overstated and cash were understated.
c. retained earnings and liabilities were both understated.
d. retained earnings and liabilities were both overstated.

Answer 1

Answer: a. retained earnings was overstated and liabilities were understated.

Explanation:

Dividends are paid from the Retained Earnings so when a company announces a dividend, that dividend is to be deducted from the Retained earnings. As this was not done, the Retained earnings at year end are overstated.

As the dividends are not paid immediately, they become liabilities. With the relevant entries not made, the dividends were not recorded as liabilities which makes liabilities understated.