Gobind, Hari and Pratap are partners. On retirement of Gobind, the goodwill already appears in the Balance Sheet at Rs. 24,000. The goodwill will be written-off
Explanation
Option (A) is correct. When goodwill already appears in the Balance Sheet, it represents an asset of the firm that was previously recorded. Since this asset belongs to the firm before the reconstitution (retirement), the loss arising from writing it off must be borne by all partners (including the retiring partner) in their old profit sharing ratio. This contrasts with the adjustment of new or hidden goodwill (as illustrated in the context for partners A, B, and C), which is done through the gaining partners' accounts. Therefore, the existing goodwill is written off by debiting all partners' capital accounts.
Solution Steps
Step 1: Identify that the goodwill of Rs. 24,000 is already appearing in the Balance Sheet.
Step 2: Apply the accounting principle that existing assets written off are charged to all partners in their old profit sharing ratio.
Step 3: Conclude that the correct treatment is debiting all partners' capital accounts in their old profit sharing ratio, corresponding to Option (A).