The following information was drawn from the 2007 annual reports of five real-world companies. Adidas Group, the company that makes athletic apparel, reported trademarks of €1,291 million. [Adidas has its headquarters in Germany and reports results in euros (€).] Trademarks is the name given to the category of assets that includes such things as the company logo. Laboratory Corporation of America (usually called LabCorp) claims to be “the second largest independent clinical laboratory in the United States.” It reported supplies inventories of $80.4 million.

Media General, Inc., owns, among other things, 25 daily newspapers and 23 television stations. It reported unearned revenue of $21,244 thousand. Motorola, Inc., which makes cell phones and other communication equipment, reported accounts receivables of $5,324 million. Palm, Inc., the company that makes the Palm Pilot personal digital assistant, reported prepaids and others of $10,222 thousand.

Required

a. Identify each of the accounts shown in italics above as being an accrual or deferral item, and whether it is an asset or liability.

b. Juniper Networks, Inc., designs, develops, and sells high-performance network infrastructure for Internet Protocol based networks. In 2007 it reported a liability called accrued compensation of $158.7 million. Write a brief explanation of what you think the company means by accrued compensation.