Accounting Theories And Current Issues In Bio Sustainable Feeds Ltd

Nature and Value to Society – Bio Sustainable Feeds Ltd

Discuss about the Accounting Theories and Current Issues.

There are existences of issues which are complex and interconnected in nature while the production of food for increasing global population is concerned. These are including increasing demand for protein, conflicts arising from use of land, concerns related to biodiversity, the limitation of regulatory matters, change of global weather with the impact of global warming, standard of animal welfare, the trend of health of global population the use of energy, constraints of nutrients and many other factors. There are global organizations whoa re working on this field like UN Food and Agriculture Organization, The Government Office for Science in London, and PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency had concluded that the role of fish farming plays a vital role to be the part of future food production and this information is going to be great for all stakeholders who are engaged in aquaculture value chain. 

One of the main components of the term aquaculture is meant to be the compatible aquaculture feed which keeps the ecological balance of aquatic system of the world. The main impact of production of this aquaculture feed is to keep the global water resource free from any sort of pollution and thus ensures the environmental issue related to pollution of aquatic resources of the world making free of any such element which can damage the ecological balance of the global water resources. The term sustainable aquaculture needs the utilisation of sustainable aquaculture feed. The production of the feed and its subsequent use maintains the parity of environment. The utilisation of fish feed and the fish oil resources ensure maintenance of ecological balance of other used earthly items and by energy use and allied generation of direct and indirect emission of green house gases. EWOS is the organization which is deployed in mitigating these harmful impacts through their constant endeavour by investing in the research and development process and thus generates the positive result towards improving the situation of over time which is significant on the scale of effort and achievement in this aspect. Three are constant efforts to explore the different aspects of feed sustainability which are being done through Integrated Management Systems, sourcing, functional feeds, marine resources and alternative proteins. These areas need constant research for development to ensure feed sustainability and they are the areas in which long time investment is required for R & D. These are the steps which are helpful towards further development of aquaculture industry through its journey which is aimed at more sustainable industry of fish feed.  Further innovative ideas in this domain towards development of products along with services to the customers will be the core area of functioning of EWOS business which is aimed in future objective (EWOS, 2012). 

Problems – Early Research by BSF

This article is based on the facts of the Bio Sustainable Feeds Ltd. a company based in Australia with the listing in ASX (Australian Stock Exchange) and is engaged in the process of making researches on the fish feed with the are of operation in the status of bio-research firms for last two decades.  In this present article we will discuss their activities related R & D and the accounting implication of those activities along with the social aspects of their activities.

The area of operation is taken by BSF Ltd is for the purpose of doing research and development in the area of sustainable fish feed. It is mainly required for the maintenance of environment with ecological balance of the world to be kept in systematic placement so that the environment with green gas emission effect is mitigated. The research is concentrated in the area of fish feed only. The nature of work taken up by the company is mainly concentrated is research in the field of aquaculture feed with sustainability and it is concentrating with the component of plant terrestrial plant based feed like canola, corn, soya-bean, sunflower etc. for the big fishes like salmon, trout, tuna etc. This work and respective r & D enhances the value to the society which in turn reduces the pollution and emission of green gas. The role of BSH towards exploration of sustainable fish feed adds value to the society by way of using the earthly material and thus helps the society towards ensuring sustainability in long run to make the world liveable for the human kind.

The early research of BSF had been done on the products of plant based feed like canola, corn, soya bean, sunflower etc. This research had costing of $ 360 million AUD out of which the utility of AUD 120 Million is not produced expected result when the fish feed was unable to produce the growth of the fishes like tuna, salmon, trout up to the mark. All these fishes are high value fishes and if the research work does not produce good result so far the growth of those fishes are concerned, the objective of this research is going to be failed. The main objectives of the earlier research was two-fold- first to ensure that the environment is secured with the earthly ingredients and secondly the fish feed should serve the purpose of standard return on the growth of the fish who are fed. When the second aspect is not met, the problem is to justify the result of the research and subsequent development. The development of any research is justified with the cot incurred and the expected result found. It is found that the research could not produce the expected result so far the growth of the high-value fishes are concerned and thus the research had faced set back which was not anticipated and the problems thus found in the early research work of BSF ltd(Chung, 2016). 

Research and Development- Definition and Discussion

The definition of Research and development is globally accepted and circulated in the Frascati Manual 6^th edition chapter 2, pages 30-48. This definition implies that any type of work with the nature of creativeness is being undertaken in a systematic process for the purpose increasing the knowledge bank, which includes the knowledge of human, with culture and society with the objective of deployment of that knowledge for new applications. The term, R & D is covering three activities which are consisting of basic research, applied research and experimental development.

Basic research is instrumental for undertaking work which is in the nature of experimental or theoretical for the purpose of acquiring new knowledge base of the basic foundation of occurrence and which is supported by facts derived from observation without any specific application or utilisation in view.

Applied research is also done from unique investigation which had been undertaken for the purpose of acquiring new knowledge. This type of research is basically intended for an explicit practical objective.

Experimental development is the work which is done systematically with purview of present scope of knowledge which is being acquired from research and practical experience which is instrumental towards production of new processes, systems and services, or for the –purpose of improvement of the existing products or services with substantial scale.

There are also other situations which had been noticed in the Frascati Manual for the activities which should not be included in R & D. The list consist of normal test and analysis of goods, ingredients, finished goods, the process management adopted, studies to derive the feasibility, normal development of software and collection of data for general purpose with the exception of PhD to be accepted as per the definition of research. The preliminary aspect of starting a project is to define it as research as per the definition. There are other criteria to find a job as research like sheer confirmation of any standard understanding is not to be defined as research. At the same time a project with commercial evaluation should not be the criteria to declare that as research. (UCL, 2015) 

R & D is a continuous process and it is analogy in nature rather than digital. For the basic four segmentation of research, basic research is defined with the targets to discover as broad which is mainly applied for the scientists and researchers who are looking for capacity with efficiency in perspective of articulated broad market or needs which are mainly focused to needs of the customers. The valuation of patent is mainly based on accounting standard. The AASB 138 is followed to measure the value of the assets.  The intangible assets shall have to be valued according to the expected future economic benefits that are attributable to the asset.

The assessment of the value of assets is to be depended on expected future economic benefits and it has to be based on supportable assumptions. In case the patent is acquired then the price of the patent decided on the basis of the price at arm’s length is to be recognised as the value of the asset (Aasb, 2009). 

Applied research is meant for some specified targeted objectives with the consideration of known problems, opportunity for any business to able availed, or the area of application by which economic or social objective for enhancement is possible. Advanced development is opting for the possible and probable solution with the feasibility test with the addition objective of mitigating the risk factor with the option of finding out the best possible alternatives for the purpose of development of existing product. (Goldense, 2015) 

To discuss about the Fair Market Value Patent, we have to understand the definition of patent. Patent is defined as intellectual property which is being generated by any organization through the research and developmental work undertaken by them which adds value to the performance of the company through the application of that work for commercialization purpose. As patent is a type of intangible asset in nature, the valuation of the same needs different level of assumptions and calculation. Patent is mainly to safeguard the innovative ideas and subsequent findings made by an individual or an organization through the protection of law and the valuation of patent is required in case of any sort of merger, acquisition or other steps to capitalise the patent for the sake of the business. It is often found that the patent has limited life period and after then the patent is going to be open for all(NMBU, 2013). 

To find out the fair value of any patent different assumptions and calculations are required. The assumptions are depending upon the method of calculation of valuation of patent. Mainly patents are required for earmarking the output fro R & D activities of any organization. It may be found required to evaluate the patent and the same should be done scientifically so far it is possible with the help of proper process and assumptions(NMBU, 2013). Here is the calculation of the patent value will either be dependent on the market price of the patent acquired or on the basis of the future economic benefits. The fair market value of the patent will be carried as the assets in the statement of financial position after deducting any accumulated amortisation and accumulated impairment losses thereon (Aasb, 2009). 

Here the value of the patent will be shown assets in the statement of financial position with the value of $700 million. If the patent is sold for 10 years it would fetch $200 million a year. This simply values the patent at $2000 million. 

The different approaches towards evaluating the patent are- a) cost approach, sales comparison approach, income approach. Out of these three approaches the cost approach is most acceptable fair market value approach. The assumptions of different valuation approaches are as:- 

Sales comparison approach- in this case the assumptions should be concentrated to the limit of the similarities and the dissimilarities related to the said patent for the specified product or service. The assumption should be supported with the data and it should support the evaluation of patent. 

Cost based approach- the basic assumptions on cast based approach valuation should consider the decisions of components of historic R & D which can have the ability to replace the intangible assets derived from that R & D which has relevance to the replacement of the asset, adjustment due to inflationary impact, and provisions of obsolescence.

The respective accounting journal entries related to the patent and R & D operations of BSF Ltd. are being given below :- 

Date	Particulars	Debit	Credit
01.07.2013	Cash A/c  debit	500 million
	CSIRO grant a/c Credit		500 million
	towards receipt of grant from CSIRO
25.08.2014	Research a/c  debit	160 million
	Cash A/c Credit		160 million
	towards expenses incurred in research
20.09.2015	Research and Development a/c  debit	340 million
	Cash A/c  Credit		340 million
	towards expenses incurred in research
28.12.2015	Cash A/c  debit	693.06 million
	Accumulated Patent Amortization  A/C Credit		500 million
	Gain On Sale Of Patent A/C Credit		193.06 million
	Patent sold at $700 milion
01.03.2016	Cash A/c  debit	1928.58 million
	Accumulated Patent Amortization  A/C Credit		500 million
	Gain On Sale Of Patent A/C Credit		1428.58 million
	Patent sold at $2000 million

Discounting factor is 8%
Patent sold for 2 years and therefore first years income is assumed at 350 million and for second year 350 million
Patent for the second year of 350 million is calculated at NPV
Sale of Patent for 10 years with annual income 200 million is also to be calculated at NPV
	NPV
	Patent 2 yrs	Patent 10 yrs
Investment	-500	-500
Y1	350	200
Y2	350	200
Y3		200
Y4		200
Y5		200
Y6		200
Y7		200
Y8		200
Y9		200
Y10		200
NPV	$693.06	$1,928.58
Discounting factor	8%

The following points to be highlighted so far the activities are covered by journal entries:-

1. CSIRO grant amount is being received by BSF in 2013 for the purpose of grant to facilitate the research and development activities towards aquaculture feed.
2. The amount received from CSIRO is debited to cash as the same amount inflated the cash accumulation of the company.
3. To earmark the amount from the specific donor, the account is being named as CSIRO gain A/c.

The valuation of intangible assets is to be done on the basis of AASB 138. BSF Ltd is a Australian company and the Australian companies do have to follow AASB 138 for the valuation of patents and other intangible assets. As patent is considered to be intangible assets, therefore the valuation has to be according to AASB 138.

In Australia, two types of patents are allowed which are known as standard patent and innovation patent.  For these patents the filing of provisional application or international protection may be sought for. 

Standard patents are those patents which offer long term protection and control to identified innovative concept while it has got life of up to 20 years from the date of filing an application. The concept of patent must be new with some innovative steps incurred for the use in industry. It is also obvious that the invention must be powered with some innovative steps which had not been exercised earlier for derivation of any product through the aid of technology. The adopted technology should be unique and not at par with already existing technology, instead it should adopt some different technology.

The assessment of value of patent is entirely dependent on the management and its policies on the patent use. BSF Ltd’s management is of the opinion that this patent will be used for next 10 years and would contribute significantly to the business of the company, they can value the patent on the basis of the income it would generate in coming 10 years. Innovation patents are mainly for the products with short market life duration and mainly applied for computer based inventions(Sarkar et al., 2016). 

In this case of BSF, the product in question is covered by standard patents and needs the filing of application for the same to get the patent secured from theft. 

 The claim of BSF will be only valid when the patent issuing authority will issue the patent with subsequent protection of the patent for a reasonable period of time as per Patent Act 1990.

Normally the ownership of intellectual property lies with the organization which made cost for this effort and the ideal situation will allow him only to enjoy the benefit of this innovation. 

The assertion such made by BSF is not at all full proof as the Australian Law related to patent Act 1990 implies that there are certain provisions through which such assertion can’t be reasonable. 

Chapter 9 u/s 27of this act has different provisions which include intervention of examination process, opposition, revocation and re-examination which can defy the right after application.(2016, p.australian Government) 

References

Aasb, 2009. Intangible Assets. [Online] www.aasb.gov.au Available at: https://www.aasb.gov.au/admin/file/content105/c9/AASB138_07-04_COMPjun09_07-09.pdf [Accessed 15 September 2016].

Anon., 2012. fish forever. [Online] Available at: https://www.ewos.com/wps/wcm/connect/6e703148-9c92-437a-9ac5-1046fd27d3c0/Spotlight+5.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url [Accessed September 2016].

Chung, E., 2016. Shift to plant-based fish feed could hurt health, environment. [Online] Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/aquaculture-feed-1.3262922 [Accessed 14 September 2016].

EWOS, 2012. Fish Foreever. [Online] Available at: https://www.ewos.com/wps/wcm/connect/6e703148-9c92-437a-9ac5-1046fd27d3c0/Spotlight+5.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url [Accessed 13 September 2016].

Goldense, B.L., 2015. The Difference Between Research and Development. [Online] Available at: https://www.rdmag.com/article/2015/02/difference-between-research-and-development [Accessed 13 September 2016].

Government, A., 2016. Types of Patents. [Online] Available at: https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/patents/understanding-patents/types-patents [Accessed 13 September 2016].

NMBU, 2013. Fish feed-research may help reduce world hunger. [Online] Available at: https://sciencenordic.com/fish-feed-research-may-help-reduce-world-hunger [Accessed 14 September 2016].

Sarkar, P., Kapuscinski, A., Lanois, A. & al, E., 2016. Towards Sustainable Aquafeeds: Complete Substitution of Fish Oil with Marine Microalga Schizochytrium sp. Improves Growth and Fatty Acid Deposition in Juvenile Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). [Online] Available at: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0156684 [Accessed 14 September 2016].

UCL, 2015. Finance and Business Affairs. [Online] Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/finance/fba-teams/research-services/pre-award/definition-research [Accessed 13 September 2016].