Mary’s Sunshine Pool Incorporated is a merchandising firm

COMPANY BACKGROUND
Mary’s Sunshine Pool Incorporated is a merchandising firm that sells various pool
supplies, e.g., chemicals, diving boards, pumps, ladders, poolside furniture, pool games, floating
loungers. At present, Mary’s Sunshine has a manual accounting system; however, the company
has hired you to implement an accounting program to be used on a personal computer as of July
1, the beginning of the current fiscal year. Mary and Ed, the stockowners of the company, have
made available to you the balance sheet and data from the subsidiary ledgers for the fiscal year
ended June 30.
As of June 30, Mary’s Sunshine Pool Company consisted of a showroom and an office in
one building, a distribution center in another building, and five employees. The employees are:
Lauren Allen, a salesperson at the showroom, Paul Barton and Ernest Callahan, traveling
salesmen, and Fred and Ted Hill, Mary and Ed’s twin sons who work at the distribution center
only during the summer months.
Mary’s Sunshine Pool Incorporated owns the land, the showroom/office building, the
distribution center building, a delivery truck and two automobiles driven by the traveling
salesmen.
REVENUE TRANSACTION CYCLE
Sales are made to users of pool supplies. Pool supplies are displayed and orders for
products are taken in the showroom. The traveling salesmen also take orders. The distribution
center is located on the same lot as the showroom/office building. It is here that the orders are
filled and shipped.
Order Processing
All sales are credit sales, which are subject to the approval of Ed. Ed approves credit
based on his “gut” feeling for each individual case and on the opinions of his bowling buddies.
Generally, Ed wants to make the sales and few orders are not approved. In the few cases where
Ed does not approve the credit, he marks his copy of the sales order accordingly. He makes a
copy of all of the disapproved orders and two copies of the approved orders. He sends the one
copy of both the approved and disapproved orders and all of the original orders to Mary. He
sends a copy of the approved orders to the twins so they can fill them.
Mary prepares a report for each salesperson listing both the sales orders turned down for
credit and the approved sales and sends the reports along with the marked sales order to the
salespeople. The salespeople notify customers of disapproved credit and then throw the reports
and sales orders in their car trunks or wastebaskets. Mary files the copies of the approved orders
until a shipping notice is received. The copies of the disapproved orders are thrown away.

Shipping
Out of town orders are shipped common carrier FOB Destination. Recently, Ed had a
brief meeting with the twins about the possibility of sending the bulk of freight shipments
through one common carrier, Iron Rooster Trucking Company. The advantage to Mary’s
Sunshine would be a rebate paid quarterly of up to 15% of freight charges. Based on prior years’
business, this rebate would total in excess of $15,000 per year. Without giving this practice
much thought, Ed told the twins to begin using Iron Rooster as much as possible.
The twins take all of the approved orders, find and box the merchandise and prepare a bill
of lading for the carrier. The twins send their copy of the sales order marked “shipped” and a
copy of the bill of lading to Mary.
After an order has been shipped, the twins update the inventory cards to keep an accurate
record of items on hand.
At the end of the week, all of the inventory cards are reviewed and a weekly shipments
report is prepared.
Accounts Receivable
Mary matches the sales order marked “shipped” to her copy of the sales order. She then
prepares a two-part invoice and mails the original to the customer. She records the sales in the
sales journal and the receivables in the subsidiary ledger. Mary files by date her copy of the
invoice with her copy of the sales order and the shipping documents.
During the summer season, Mary’s Sunshine often has difficulty in shipping customer
orders in a timely manner. Supplier delays in delivery to Mary’s Sunshine and increased volume
cause delays in outgoing shipments. At the end of some months, Mary prepares and mails
customer invoices ahead of actual shipment. She claims this practice more closely matches
revenues and expenses. As usual, Mary records the sales in the sales journal and in the accounts
receivable subsidiary ledger.
Customers are allowed to take a 2% discount if they pay within 10 days of the billing
date; otherwise, the net amount is due in 30 days.
Once per month, Mary prepares a listing of delinquent customers that she sends to the
salespeople. They are responsible for collecting the overdue amounts.
Cash Receipts
Mary opens the mail each day; sorts the cash receipts and the invoices to be paid and logs
them in the appropriate logs. Mary records the receipts on customers account in the cash receipts
journal and in the accounts receivable subsidiary ledger. After recording all the cash receipts,
she prepares a deposit slip and takes the cash to the bank.

DISBURSEMENT CYCLE
Purchasing
Every Friday afternoon, the salespeople prepare weekly sales reports from their copies of
the sales orders. They send the reports to Ed and then refile their sales orders by customer name.
Ed reviews the weekly sales reports and the weekly inventory reports prepared by Fred and Ted.
Ed “eyeballs” the numbers, notes any shortages in inventory, and prepares 3-part purchase
orders. He mails the original to the vendor, sends one to the twins in the distribution center and
one copy to Mary.
As noted above, Fred and Ted have a card file for keeping track of inventory. Each card
has a running balance to expedite the preparation of the weekly inventory reports for Ed. When
they receive a copy of a purchase order, they pull the cards for the item(s) ordered, record the
quantity ordered and the P.O. number, and file the purchase order in numerical order. When the
shipment arrives, Fred and Ted pulls the purchase order to make sure that the items received
were the items ordered and note any back orders on the purchase order. Then they pull the
inventory cards, mark the items received, and prepare a receiving report that is sent to Mary.
Cash Disbursements
As noted above, Mary opens the mail and separates and logs the cash receipts and the
invoices to be paid. Invoices are filed in alphabetical order by due date. Each Thursday, Mary
pulls the invoices that are due that week and types three-part checks. The checks, along with the
invoices, are given to Ed for his approval and signature. After Ed signs the checks, Mary mails
the original, files the second copy in check number order, and attaches the third copy to the
invoice. She then enters the check in the cash disbursement journal and the accounts payable
subsidiary ledger. The third copy of the check and the attached invoice are filed alphabetically
by vendor name.
Payroll
A full service payroll processing company called Payroll Paid Promptly (PPP) processes
payroll. PPP calculates the payroll, creates and mails the checks to the employees and remits all
payroll taxes and other withholdings to the appropriate locations. They send Mary a report once
per month reflecting the transactions made on behalf of PPP. Mary prepares a journal entry to
reflect the payroll and updates the general ledger. PPP charges a fee of 10% of the gross payroll
for the payroll service. Mary prepares the check for these services once per month.
The employees, who are paid once a month, are as follows:
Lauren Allen, a salesperson at the showroom
Paul Barton and Ernest Callahan, traveling salesmen
Fred and Ted Hill, twins who work at the distribution center