What is a bond? There are several business definitions for bond. A bond could be a formal debt instrument issued by a corporation or government and purchased by investors. This is the meaning when we say that a public...
What is a bond? There are several business definitions for bond. A bond could be a formal debt instrument issued by a corporation or government and purchased by investors. This is the meaning when we say that a public...
What is net income? Definition of Net Income Net income is the positive result of a company’s revenues and gains minus its expenses and losses. A negative result is referred to as net loss. (There are a few gains and...
What is Notes Payable? Definition of Notes Payable In accounting, Notes Payable is a general ledger liability account in which a company records the face amounts of the promissory notes that it has issued. The balance in...
With regard to depreciation, what does the term mid-month convention mean? Definition of Mid-Month Convention In depreciation, the mid-month convention means that an asset placed into service anytime during a given...
Are depreciation, depletion and amortization similar? In accounting the terms depreciation, depletion and amortization often involve the movement of costs from the balance sheet to the income statement in a systematic...
What is premium on bonds payable? Definition of Premium on Bonds Payable Premium on bonds payable (or bond premium) occurs when bonds payable are issued for an amount greater than their face or maturity amount. This is...
What is a blank check? Definition of Blank Check A blank check often refers to a check that has been signed by an authorized check signer without completing the other information (date, payee, amount). A blank check...
What is Subchapter S? Subchapter S refers to a section of Chapter 1 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. A subchapter S corporation, which is also referred to as an S corporation, is a corporation that does not pay the...
What are the accounting principles, assumptions, and concepts? Definition of Accounting Principles, Assumptions, and Concepts The basic underlying accounting principles, assumptions, and concepts include the following:...
What is the consistency principle? Definition of Consistency In accounting, consistency requires that a company’s financial statements follow the same accounting principles, methods, practices and procedures from one...
What is cost incurred? Definition of Cost Incurred A cost incurred is a cost that a company (or other organization) becomes liable for. Example of Cost Incurred Assume that a retailer begins operations on December 1 and...
Why is it necessary to allocate a lump sum payment to individual items? It is necessary to allocate a lump sum payment to individual items in order to record a fair portion of the lump sum in each of the proper general...
What is Big 4 Accounting? In accounting, the Big 4 refers to the four largest public accounting and auditing firms: Deloitte PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC Ernst & Young (EY) KPMG These certified public accounting (CPA)...
What is a liquidity ratio? Definition of Liquidity Ratio A liquidity ratio is a financial ratio that indicates whether a company’s current assets will be sufficient to meet the company’s obligations when they become...
Which accounts normally have debit balances? Definition of Debit Balance In accounting, a debit balance refers to a general ledger account balance that is on the left side of the account. This is often illustrated by...
Where does revenue received in advance go on a balance sheet? Definition of Revenue Received in Advance Under the accrual basis of accounting, revenues received in advance of being earned are reported as a liability. If...
What is the difference between the direct method and the indirect method for the statement of cash flows? Main Difference between Direct and Indirect Method of SCF The main difference between the direct method and the...
Why does an increase in accounts payable appear as an addition on the statement of cash flows? Adjustments from Accrual to Cash on Statement of Cash Flows When the statement of cash flows (SCF, cash flow statement) is...
What does the cost principle mean for a company's income statement? If a company has buildings, equipment and inventory, the cost principle will mean that the amount of depreciation expense and the cost of goods sold...
How do you account for a project under construction? Accounting for a Project Under Construction If a company is constructing a major project such as a building, assembly line, etc., the amounts spent on the project will...
What items are added to the balance per bank on the bank reconciliation? Bank Reconciliation Adjustments to Bank Balance The items that are added to the balance per bank when doing a bank reconciliation include: Deposits...
What is a comparative income statement? A comparative income statement will consist of two or three columns of amounts appearing to the right of the account titles or descriptions. For example, the income statement for...
What is lead time in purchasing? In purchasing, lead time is the estimated time between ordering goods and receiving the goods. For instance, if 100 units of Product X are ordered on April 11 and are expected to be...
What are dividends? In accounting, dividends often refers to the cash dividends that a corporation pays to its stockholders (or shareholders). Dividends are often paid quarterly, but could be paid at other times. For a...
In accounting, are debit balances good? It is best if you accept the meaning that the word debit has had for 500 years: a debit is an amount entered on the left-side of an account. Don’t add “good” or “bad” or...
What is a general ledger account? Definition of General Ledger Account A general ledger account is an account or record used to sort, store and summarize a company’s transactions. These accounts are arranged in the...
What is the three-way match? Definition of Three-Way Match In the accounting and bookkeeping area of accounts payable, the three-way match refers to a procedure used when processing an invoice received from a vendor or...
How do you calculate the cost of carrying inventory? Definition of Cost of Carrying Inventory The cost of carrying inventory (or cost of holding inventory) is the sum of the following: Cost of money tied up in inventory,...
What is the difference between a land improvement and a leasehold improvement? Definition of Land Improvement A land improvement is a long-term (long-lived) asset resulting from a physical addition to a company’s land....
What is the accounts receivable turnover ratio? Definition of Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio The accounts receivable turnover ratio (or receivables turnover ratio) is an important financial ratio that indicates a...
What is an impairment? Definition of Impairment The term impairment is associated with an asset currently having a market value that is less than the asset’s book value . A test is done to determine whether the...
What are accrued revenues and when are they recorded? Definition of Accrued Revenues Accrued revenues include service revenues, interest income, sales of goods, etc. which have been earned by a business, but the...
What is an unpresented check? An unpresented check is a check written by a company and entered in its records, but the check has not yet cleared the company’s checking account. In other words, the check has not yet...
What is a general ledger? Definition of General Ledger A general ledger is a grouping of perhaps hundreds of accounts that are used to sort and store information from a company’s business transactions. The general...
What is the cost of capital? Definition of Cost of Capital The cost of capital is the weighted-average, after-tax cost of a corporation’s long-term debt, preferred stock (if any), and the stockholders’ equity...
What is the difference between vertical analysis and horizontal analysis? Definition of Vertical Analysis Vertical analysis expresses each amount on a financial statement as a percentage of another amount. The vertical...
What is turnover? Definition of Turnover In accounting, the term turnover can have more than one meaning. In some countries turnover is used in place of sales. Turnover also pertains to certain financial ratios that...
Why do bonds rarely sell for their maturity value? The reasons why bonds rarely sell for their maturity value are: The interest paid is usually fixed at the interest rate that is stated on the face of the bond. As a...
What is a natural business year? Definition of Natural Business Year A natural business year is the period of 12 consecutive months (or 52-53 consecutive weeks) ending at a low point of the organization’s activities...
How do you record the sale of land? Definition of Sale of Land Assume that a retailer sells land that it had been holding for a future store. The retailer must remove the cost of the land from its general ledger asset...
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