Question

At the beginning of 2019, Dr. John opened his medical practice as a personal service corporation. The entity uses a December 31 year-end and the accrual method of accounting. During the year, the corporation billed patients and insurance companies for $485,000 for medical services. At the end of the year, $60,000 of this amount had not been collected. The entity earned $1,500 interest on a money market account held in the local bank and another $1,500 interest on an investment in bonds.

Dr. John’s salary from his corporation is $14,000 per month. However, he did not cash his November and December payroll checks until January 2020. To help provide funds to invest in the new business, Dr. John’s parents loaned him $150,000 and did not charge him any interest. He also owns stock that has increased in value from $7,000 at the beginning of the year to more than $30,000 at the end of the year. In 2019, Dr. John’s wife died unexpectedly. Since Dr. John was the beneficiary of his wife’s life insurance policy, he received a check for $200,000 from the Insurance Company on December 2019.

Although Dr. John took several accounting classes in college, he would like your help in calculating the correct amounts of his own gross income and the gross income of the corporation.

Would the calculations be different if the corporation used a cash method of accounting?

Answer 1