will be significant. Example of LIFO with Increasing Costs In the U.S., LIFO is considered to be better when the costs of inventory items are changing. The reason is LIFO is matching the latest costs of products with...
will be significant. Example of LIFO with Increasing Costs In the U.S., LIFO is considered to be better when the costs of inventory items are changing. The reason is LIFO is matching the latest costs of products with...
What is the difference between reserve and provision? Definition of Reserve Many decades ago, U.S. accountants decided to eliminate the word reserve when reporting the balances in contra asset accounts. The accounting...
that contains videos, visual tutorials, forms, and more than 500 bookkeeping exam questions with answers. There is a reasonable one-time fee for a lifetime membership in AccountingCoach Pro and it comes with a 60-day,...
flows from operating activities. (There are no differences in the cash flows from investing activities and/or the cash flows from financing activities.) Under the U.S. reporting rules, a corporation has the option...
is likely to be used for the manufacturing of a custom made display counter. Select... job process 20. Variable and fixed manufacturing overhead costs are allocated to products for external reporting purposes because of...
Our Explanation of Accounting Equation (or bookkeeping equation) illustrates how the double-entry system keeps the accounting equation in balance. You will see how the revenues and expenses on the income statement are...
Our Explanation of Present Value of an Ordinary Annuity uses the appropriate present value factors for discounting a stream of equal cash amounts occurring at equal time intervals. An important feature is the use of loan...
Our Explanation of Accounting Equation (or bookkeeping equation) illustrates how the double-entry system keeps the accounting equation in balance. You will see how the revenues and expenses on the income statement are...
Our Explanation of Present Value of a Single Amount discusses the time value of money and the need to discount future amounts to the time of an investment or other transaction. The present value of 1 table is used to...
Our Explanation of the Balance Sheet provides you with a basic understanding of a corporation's balance sheet (or statement of financial position). You will gain insights regarding the assets, liabilities, and...
Our Explanation of Nonprofit Accounting includes a chart that contrasts the financial statements of a nonprofit (or not-for-profit) organization with those of a for-profit business corporation. There are many examples to...
Our Explanation of Inventory and Cost of Goods Sold will take your understanding to a new level. You will see how the income statement and balance sheet amounts are affected by the various inventory systems and cost flow...
Our Explanation of Evaluating Business Investments compares four of the techniques for reviewing potential capital expenditures. You will be introduced to accounting rate of return, payback, net present value, and...
Can I capitalize this year's R&D? Generally, R&D costs cannot be capitalized for U.S. financial statements according to the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 2, Accounting for Research and...
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)...
of the balance sheet. Examples of Capital Stock Capital stock is the combination of a corporation’s common stock and preferred stock. Common stock is issued by every U.S. corporation. A small percentage of...
Where can I find a sample of a cash flow statement? A cash flow statement or statement of cash flows should be presented with a U.S. corporation’s annual financial statements. If a corporation’s stock is publicly...
Can I take the CPA Exam with a bachelor's degree? To be eligible for taking the CPA Exam you must meet the requirements of the board of accountancy in the U.S. state (or jurisdiction) in which you plan to take the...
. For example, a company may arrange with its bank to borrow money as needed but never owe the bank in excess of $500,000. The agreement might specify that interest will be calculated by multiplying the prime rate times...
An accounting guideline where the U.S. dollar is assumed to be constant (no change in purchasing power) over time. This allows an accountant to add one dollar from a transaction in 2010 to one dollar in 2024 and to show...
A bond without a stated interest rate. Because no interest is paid, the bond will sell for a discount from its maturity value. Rather than receiving interest, an investor’s compensation will be the difference...
Our Explanation of Payroll Accounting discusses the taxes and benefits which are withheld from employees' pay as well as the taxes and benefits that are expenses for the employers. Also provided are examples of the...
on the estimated salvage value) is divided by the estimated years of useful life to arrive at a consistent annual amount to be debited to Depreciation Expense and is credited to Accumulated Depreciation. This method is...
What is LIFO? Definition of LIFO LIFO is the acronym for last-in, first-out, which is a cost flow assumption often used by U.S. corporations in moving costs from inventory to the cost of goods sold. Under LIFO, the most...
Medicare Taxes that were withheld from the employees’ paychecks. The employer must remit both the amounts of the FICA withholdings and the employer’s matching to the U.S. government by specific dates. Example of...
plan, a deferred profit sharing plan, and/or a charitable giving plan may require an expense of 25% of its pretax profits. In addition, a U.S. corporation might have a combined federal and state income tax rate of...
Our Explanation of Accounting Equation (or bookkeeping equation) illustrates how the double-entry system keeps the accounting equation in balance. You will see how the revenues and expenses on the income statement are...
What is inventory valuation? Definition of Inventory Valuation In the U.S., inventory valuation is the dollar amount associated with the items remaining in a company’s inventory. Generally speaking, the amount is the...
What is an outside accountant? A company’s outside accountant is an accountant who is not an employee of the company. An outside accountant could be a sole practitioner or a member of a firm that provides accounting...
working capital and the current ratio. Examples of Current Assets Examples of current assets and the typical order of liquidity include: Cash and cash equivalents (which includes currency, checking accounts, petty cash,...
expense for 10 years. (U.S. income tax rules allow accelerating the yearly depreciation amounts, but the total amount of depreciation cannot exceed the asset’s cost.) Join PRO to Track Progress Mark the Question as...
What are payroll withholding taxes? Definition of Payroll Withholding Taxes In the U.S. payroll withholding taxes are the taxes that an employer is required to deduct from its employees’ gross wages, salaries, bonuses,...
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...
by one of the 50 U.S. states (or one of the five other jurisdictions). The CPA’s license is renewed if the state’s continuing professional education requirements are met. Examples of a Certified Public Accountant...
What is a burden rate in inventory? I assume that the burden rate in inventory refers to a manufacturer’s indirect manufacturing costs, which are also referred to as factory overhead, indirect production costs, and...
refers to consistency as one of the characteristics or qualities that makes accounting information useful. Example of Consistency Let’s assume that a U.S. corporation uses the FIFO cost flow assumption for valuing its...
Depreciation Methods Three examples of accelerated depreciation methods include the following: Double-declining-balance method (or 200% declining-balance method) 150%-declining-balance method Sum-of-the-years’-digits...
’ equity are reduced with the debit to Depreciation Expense The carrying value of the assets being depreciated and amount of total assets are reduced by the credit to Accumulated Depreciation The depreciation expense...
What is apportionment? An apportionment is an allocation based on some proportions. I associate the term apportionment with a corporation’s taxable income that was earned in many states within the U.S. In that...
What is cash flow net of tax? I view cash flow net of tax as the amount of cash spent minus the income tax savings when the amount is deductible on the corporation’s income tax return. To illustrate this, let’s...
Featured Review
"I am a staff accountant at a small CPA firm in southern California. I previously worked as the accountant for a county probate department for a number of years, and also worked briefly for an oil & gas company. I finished my accounting degree in 2016, but it wasn't long into my career that I realized I didn't know many of the things I should have learned in college. I would often have to google things I should have already learned, and found that I was often directed to AccountingCoach, which answered nearly all my questions. That was when I decided to become a PRO user, and AccountingCoach became my primary tool for supplemental learning. There are tons of topics available and the concepts are taught in an easy-to-understand manner. I especially like the quizzes and the ease of use of the entire program. AccountingCoach has helped me learn many of the things I should have learned in college, and I believe it has directly influenced my professional growth." - Vincent M.
Join PRO or PRO Plus and Get Lifetime Access to Our Premium Materials
Read all 2,645 reviewsWe now offer 10 Certificates of Achievement for Introductory Accounting and Bookkeeping: