Stephanie Delaney, CPA, is the newly hired director of corporatetaxation for Acme Incorporated, which is a publicly traded corporation. Ms. Delaney’s first job withAcme was the review of the company’s accounting practices on deferred income taxes. In doing her review,she noted differences between tax and book depreciation methods that permitted Acme to realize a sizabledeferred tax liability on its balance sheet. As a result, Acme paid very little in income taxes at that time.Delaney also discovered that Acme has an explicit policy of selling off plant assets before they reversedin the deferred tax liability account. This policy, coupled with the rapid expansion of its plant assetbase, allowed Acme to “defer” all income taxes payable for several years, even though it always hasreported positive earnings and an increasing EPS. Delaney checked with the legal department and foundthe policy to be legal, but she’s uncomfortable with the ethics of it.InstructionsAnswer the following questions.(a) Why would Acme have an explicit policy of selling plant assets before the temporary differencesreversed in the deferred tax liability account?(b) What are the ethical implications of Acme’s “deferral” of income taxes?(c) Who could be harmed by Acme’s ability to “defer” income taxes payable for several years, despitepositive earnings?(d) In a situation such as this, what are Ms. Delaney’s professional responsibilities as a CPA?