Mason Painting Services has a weekly payroll of $28,000. December 31 falls on Wednesday and Mason will pay its employees the following Monday (January 5) for the previous full week. Assume that Mason has a five-day workweek and has an unadjusted balance in Salaries Expense of $800,000 at December 31. What amount should be debited to Salaries Expense on December 31?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The amount that should be debited to Salaries Expense on December 31 is the amount that corresponds to the payroll for the days worked in December, which is the last month of the year.

Since December has 31 days and December 31 falls on a Wednesday, there are three days left in the month that will be paid on Monday, January 5 (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday).

Therefore, the amount that corresponds to the days worked in December is:

(5/7) x $28,000 = $20,000

However, since the balance in Salaries Expense is unadjusted and only reflects the amount paid to employees until December 31, we need to subtract the amount already accounted for:

$800,000 - $780,000 = $20,000

Therefore, the amount that should be debited to Salaries Expense on December 31 is $20,000, which corresponds to Choice D.

Mason Painting Services Has a Weekly Payroll of $28,000