Chapter 3 Reconstitution of a Partnership Firm - Admission of a Partner

The following are the various items that need to be adjusted at the time of admission of a new partner.

1. Profit Sharing Ratio: Calculation of new profit sharing ratio.

2. Goodwill: Valuation and adjustment of goodwill among the sacrificing old partners.

3. Revaluation of Assets and Liabilities: Assets and liabilities are revalued to ascertain the current value of the assets and liabilities of the partnership firm. Moreover, the profit or loss due to the revaluation need to be distributed among the old partners.

4. Accumulated profits, losses and reserves are distributed among the old partners in their old ratio.

5. Adjustment of capital of the partners.

When new partner/s is/are admitted, then the old partners in the partnership firm need to sacrifice their share of profit in favour of new partner/s. This reduces the share of old partner/s. Hence it is necessary to ascertain new profit sharing ratio even for old partners when a new partner joins the firm.

Sacrificing ratio refers to the ratio in which the old partners surrender their share of profit in favour of new partner/s.It is calculated by the difference between old ratio and new ratio of the old partner/s.

The sacrificing ratio is used in following situation:

1) When the existing partners of a partnership firm mutually agrees on change of profit sharing ratio.

2) when a new partner is admitted and amount of goodwill brought by him or her is transferred among the old parners in sacrificing ratio of the old partners.

If some goodwill already exists in the books of old firm, then it should be written off among the old partner's itself in their old profit sharing raito. Following journal entry shall be passed for this:

Old Partner's Capital Account                          Dr.

             To Goodwill Account

(Goodwill Written off in old ratio among the old partners)

When a new partner joins the firm, it is very important to revalue the assets and liabilities of the firm for asertaining its true and fair values.This is done because the value of assets and liability may have increased or decreased and consequently their corresponding figures in old balance sheet may either be understated or overstated.Moreever it may also be possible that some of assets and liabilites are left unrecorded.

Thus in order to record the increase and decrease in the market value of assets and liabilities,revaluation account is created and any profit or losses associated with this increase or decrease are distributed among the old partners of the firm.