If a mortgage payment is due by December 31, but the payment is not made until the following month, should the loan payment be accrued at December 31? The interest portion of the mortgage payment should be accrued as of...
If a mortgage payment is due by December 31, but the payment is not made until the following month, should the loan payment be accrued at December 31? The interest portion of the mortgage payment should be accrued as of...
Is a utility bill an expense? The utility bill for a retailer or for a service company is an expense. Under the accrual basis of accounting, the utility bill is an expense for the period indicated by the meter reading...
What is an intangible asset? Definition of Intangible Asset An intangible asset is an asset that you cannot touch, since it lacks physical substance. Accountants record intangible assets at their cost when they are...
What is a purchase return? Definition of Purchase Return A purchase return occurs when a buyer returns merchandise that it had purchased from a supplier. Since the return of purchased merchandise is time consuming and...
What is a deposit in transit? Definition of Deposit in Transit A company’s deposit in transit is the currency and customers’ checks that have been received and are rightfully reported as cash on the date received,...
What is accrued income? Definition of Accrued Income Accrued income is an amount that: A company has earned The company has a right to receive The collection is probable Has not yet been recorded in the general ledger...
What is a favorable variance? Definition of a Variance In accounting the term variance usually refers to the difference between an actual amount and a planned or budgeted amount. For example, if a company’s budget for...
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...
How does one prepare a company's first bank statement reconciliation? To prepare a bank reconciliation for a company that never prepared one previously, I would first make a list of outstanding checks. For example, if...
What are sales taxes? In the United States, most of its 50 States assess a sales tax, which is a tax on sales to the end user. For example, in the state of Wisconsin a retailer must collect a 5% sales tax and perhaps...
Why is income received in advance a liability? Definition of Income Received in Advance Under the accrual method of accounting, when a company receives money from a customer prior to earning it, the company will have to...
What does it mean to replenish the petty cash fund? Definition of Replenishing Petty Cash Replenishing the petty cash fund means the petty cash custodian requests and receives cash from the company’s regular checking...
What are debits and credits? Definition of Debits and Credits Debits and credits are terms used in accounting and bookkeeping systems for the past five centuries. They are part of the double entry system which results in...
Do variance accounts have an impact on financial statements? Or are they for performance evaluation only? Since the financial statements must reflect the cost principle, both the standard costs and the variances must be...
What is an invoice? Definition of Invoice An invoice is a dated bill prepared by the seller of goods sold (or services provided) which includes brief descriptions of the items, quantities of items and their unit prices,...
What are assets? Definition of Assets In accounting and bookkeeping, a company’s assets can be defined as: Resources or things of value that are owned by a company as the result of company transactions Prepaid expenses...
Does sales commission get reported in the income statement? Definition of Sales Commissions Sales commissions are amounts earned by selling another company’s goods or services and paid by the company whose goods or...
Does a dividend reduce profit? Definition of Dividend A dividend declared by a corporation is a distribution to its stockholders of the profits the corporation had earned. Since the dividends are not an expense, the...
What is work-in-process inventory (WIP)? Definition of Work-in-process Inventory Work-in-process (WIP) inventory pertains to the goods for which the manufacturing has begun, but not yet completed. In other words, WIP is...
Is the drawing account a capital account? Definition of Drawing Account A sole proprietorship will have a drawing account in which the owner’s withdrawals or draws of cash or other assets are recorded. The amounts of...
What are sundry expenses? Definition of Sundry Expenses In accounting and bookkeeping, sundry expenses are expenses that are small in amount and rare in occurrence. For these rare and insignificant expenses, a company...
What is an imprest system of petty cash? Definition of Petty Cash Petty cash refers to a small amount of currency and coins that a company uses to pay small amounts without writing a check. The amount of petty cash (also...
Why does an inventory error affect two periods? Definition of Inventory Error An inventory error could be the result of any of the following: Omitting some items when physically counting inventory Double counting some...
Are utility bills an expense or a liability? Definition of Utility Bills Utility bills are invoices received by a company for the natural gas, electricity, water, and sewer charges that the company used during a previous...
What is the operating cycle? Operating cycle definition The operating cycle is the time required for a company’s cash to be put into its operations and then return to the company’s cash account. Operating cycle...
Why would a business change its chart of accounts? There can be several reasons for a business to change its chart of accounts. One reason for changing the chart of accounts is to better match how the business is...
What is a toxic asset? I would define a toxic asset as an investment whose value has dropped significantly and there is no market in which to sell the asset. To illustrate, let’s assume that at the peak of the real...
How can a company with a net loss show a positive cash flow? Definition of Net Loss A net loss occurs when a company’s revenues and gains are less than its operating expenses, other expenses and losses. The net loss or...
What is the accrual basis of accounting? Definition of Accrual Basis of Accounting Under the accrual basis of accounting (or accrual method of accounting), revenues are reported on the income statement when they are...
What is comprehensive income? Definition of Comprehensive Income Comprehensive income for a corporation is the combination of the following amounts which occurred during a specified period of time such as a year,...
What is a cash cow? A cash cow is often a profitable product or service that dominates a market and generates far more cash than is needed to maintain its market position. Companies may use the money from the cash cow to...
What is materiality? Definition of Materiality In accounting, materiality refers to the relative size of an amount. Relatively large amounts are material, while relatively small amounts are not material (or immaterial)....
What is the profit margin (after tax) ratio? Definition of Profit Margin Ratio The after tax profit margin ratio expresses the company’s net income or earnings as a percent of the company’s net sales. In other words,...
What are the notes to the financial statements? Definition of Notes to Financial Statements The notes to the financial statements are a required, integral part of a company’s external financial statements. They are...
Why are assets and expenses increased with a debit? Definition of Debit In accounting the term debit indicates the left side of a general ledger account or the left side of a T-account. (The right side of an account or a...
When do you adjust the amount of prepaid expenses? Definition of Adjusting Prepaid Expenses The balance in the current asset account Prepaid Expenses should be adjusted prior to a company issuing its financial...
What is inventory shrinkage? Definition of Inventory Shrinkage Inventory shrinkage is a term to describe the loss of inventory. The shrinkage could be the result of theft, breakage, poor recordkeeping, etc. The term...
What is the journal entry to record a one-year subscription for a magazine? Ways to Record One-Year Subscriptions Let’s assume that the cost of the one-year subscription for a monthly trade publication is $120. Let’s...
Where in the chart of accounts is a suspense account located? Suspense Account in the Chart of Accounts A suspense account could be located in any one of these sections of an organization’s chart of accounts: Asset...
What is a defined contribution pension plan? A defined contribution pension plan is one in which the employer contributes an amount into each eligible employee’s account within an established plan. The employee decides...
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