During the year ended December 31, 2020, TELUS Corporation (TELUS) recorded numerous accruals and deferrals. As a long-term employee of TELUS’s accounting and finance staff, it is your job to explain the effects of accruals and deferrals on TELUS’s 2020 financial statements. Suppose the following questions were raised at the shareholders’ meeting:

1. Prepaid expenses are listed on the December 31, 2020, consolidated statements of financial position (balance sheet). What is the balance at this date? What items would be included in this balance, and why is this account listed as a balance sheet account instead of an expense account?

2. “Accounts payable and accrued liabilities” are shown on the December 31, 2020, consolidated statements of financial position in the amount of $2,962,000,000. Define an accrued liability. Use Note 23 to identify what accounts are specifically included in TELUS’s statement.

3. What is depreciation, and how much would have been recorded for the year ended December 31, 2020, on the consolidated statements of income?