The leading accounting and bookkeeping software for small businesses in the United States. QuickBooks is the registered trademark of Intuit Inc.
The leading accounting and bookkeeping software for small businesses in the United States. QuickBooks is the registered trademark of Intuit Inc.
Pushing authority and decision making down to the managers and employees who are closer to the work.
The present fair market value.
Past omitted dividends on cumulative preferred stock. Generally these omitted dividends were not declared and, therefore, do not appear on the corporation’s balance sheet as a liability. However, they must be...
An unsecured bond. For example, a bond not secured by a lien on the issuer’s property.
To eliminate debt such as a company’s repurchase or retirement of its outstanding bonds.
Also referred to as book value or carrying value; the cost of a plant asset minus the accumulated depreciation since the asset was acquired. This net amount is not an indication of the asset’s fair market value....
Net sales revenues minus the cost of goods sold.
See bill of materials.
See first in, first out (FIFO).
A written opinion of an independent certified public accountant that a company’s financial statements are a fair representation of the company’s financial performance and financial position. The...
Federal Unemployment Tax Act. See federal unemployment tax.
See Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
A shortened version of the term bank reconciliation or bank statement reconciliation.
One component of a manufacturer’s inventory. Sometimes referred to as Stores or Raw Materials. (Other components of a manufacturer’s inventory are work-in-process and finished goods.)
A term that is sometimes used interchangeably with gross profit. Others use the term to mean the percentage of gross profit dollars divided by net sales dollars.
The difference between assets and liabilities, such as stockholders’ equity, owner’s equity, or a nonprofit organization’s net assets. Also used to indicate an owner’s interest in a personal...
Approximate amounts. Accountants use estimates for depreciation expense, warranty expense, bad debts expense, monthly accruals for utilities, bonuses, income taxes, etc. Also see change in accounting estimate.
The total of interest and principal payments required to be paid on loans payable.
A corporation’s own stock that has been repurchased from stockholders. Also a stockholders’ equity account that usually reports the cost of the stock that has been repurchased.
A statistical tool that uses the least-squares method to estimate the fixed and variable components of mixed costs.
An actual count of the goods owned by the business.
An employee’s pretax compensation based on hours worked times an hourly rate of pay. Production workers and nonmanagement employees are usually paid wages. To learn more, see Explanation of Payroll Accounting.
A person whose pay is based on an annual amount (instead of being based on an hourly rate of pay multiplied by actual hours worked). For example, the officers of a corporation and the heads of departments within a...
This current liability account reports the amount of interest the company owes as of the date of the balance sheet. (Future interest is not recorded as a liability.)
The principle that requires a company to match expenses with related revenues in order to report a company’s profitability during a specified time interval. Ideally, the matching is based on a cause and effect...
What are the effects of overstating inventory? Definition of Overstating Inventory Overstating inventory means that the reported amount for the cost of a company’s inventory is greater than the actual true cost based...
One component of financial statement analysis. This method involves financial statements reporting amounts for several years. The earliest year presented is designated as the base year and the subsequent years are...
A formal, written promise to pay interest and to repay the principal amount.
See Accounting Principles Board.
A current asset that reports the amount paid for advertising that has not yet taken place. When the advertising occurs the prepaid advertising is reduced and advertising expense is recorded.
A temporary account that is debited when cash dividends have been declared (instead of debiting the Retained Earnings account. At the end of the accounting year, the balance in this account is transferred to the Retained...
A reduction in the original selling price.
Usually this refers to manufacturing employees who are not classified as direct labor. Material handlers, mechanics, setup workers, clean up workers are a few examples of indirect labor.
A symbol that indicates the total amount of fixed costs during a specified period of time. In the equation of the straight line, y = a + bx, the total amount of fixed costs during the period is represented by...
A corporation’s reported net income and earnings per share for a three-month period.
A long-term asset account reported on the balance sheet under the heading of property, plant, and equipment. Included in this account would be copiers, computers, printers, fax machines, etc.
A graph’s vertical scale that usually indicates the total dollars for the volume or units indicated by the x-axis.
The British term for controller.
More formally known as the Uniform CPA Examination. This rigorous, 14-hour, computer-based exam consists of questions developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The exam is in English only and...
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