Three independent situations follow. 

Situation 1 

A company received a notice from the provincial environment ministry that a site the company had been using to dispose of waste was considered toxic, and that the company would be held responsible for its cleanup under provincial legislation. Company engineers believe it would take up to three years to determine the best way to remediate the site and that the cost would be considerable, perhaps as much as $500,000 to $2 million or more. 

Situation 2

Subsequent to the date of a set of financial statements, but before the date of authorization by the board of directors for issuing the financial statements, a company enters into a contract that will probably result in a significant loss to the company. The loss amount can be reasonably estimated. 

Situation 3 

A company has adopted a policy of recording self-insurance for any possible losses resulting from injury to others by the company's vehicles. The premium for an insurance policy for the same risk from an independent insurance company would have an annual cost of $4,000. During the period covered by the financial statements, there were no accidents involving the company's vehicles that resulted in injury to others. 

Instructions 

a. Discuss the accrual or type of disclosure that is necessary under ASPE (if any) and the reason(s) why the disclosure is appropriate for each of the three independent situations. 

b. For situation 2, assume instead that the contract is a non-cancellable purchase contract that was entered into before the date of the financial statements. Discuss the accrual or type of disclosure that would be recorded under ASPE (if any). Provide support for the accrual or disclosure from the perspective of a user of the financial statements.