purchased a new piece of equipment for its research lab on January 1, 2015 for $45,200. The equipment is expected to have a useful life of four years after which it will have an expected residual value of $6,100. The company uses the straight-line method and decides to sell the equipment on January 1, 2017 after using the equipment for 2 years. Calculate the gain or loss Chris Company will recognize if the research equipment is sold for $32,200.

The gain recognized on the equipment is $6,550

Explanation:

A straight-line depreciation method distributes depreciation costs evenly throughout the useful life of the equipment, and depreciation per year using this method is calculated thus:

Depreciation per year = (Cost of equipment - salvage value) : useful life

= (45,200 - 6,100) : 4 = 39,100 : 4 = $9,775

This means that each year, the machine depreciates by a value of $9,775.

Next, we are given that the machine was sold for $32,200 after two years, to determine if a profit or loss was made, we will calculate the expected residual value after two years, and find the difference between this value and the selling price. The residual value is calculated thus:

Residual value = Cost of equipment - (depreciation per year * number of years used)

Residual value = 45,200 - (9,775 * 2)

Residual value = 45,200 - 19,550 = $25,650

Difference between residual value and selling price = 32,200 - 25,650 = $6,550 (profit was made since the selling price was higher than the value of the equipment)