What is a real account? Definition of a Real Account A real account is a general ledger account that does not close at the end of the accounting year. In other words, the balances in the real accounts are carried over to...
What is a real account? Definition of a Real Account A real account is a general ledger account that does not close at the end of the accounting year. In other words, the balances in the real accounts are carried over to...
What does it mean to amortize the premium, discount, and issue costs on bonds payable? Definition of Amortize Premium, Discount, and Issue Costs With regards to bonds payable, the term amortize means to systematically...
What is a common carrier? A common carrier is a business that transports goods for other companies, organizations, or individuals. The common carrier is responsible for any loss associated with the transport of the...
What is a blank endorsement? In the case of a check payable to John Smith (the payee), a blank endorsement would be the signature of John Smith on the back side of the check without any other words above or below his...
What is COS? Definition of COS In accounting, the acronym COS could indicate either cost of sales or cost of services. The income statement of a manufacturer or a retailer might use the term cost of sales or it might use...
What does it mean to report expenses by function? Definition of Reporting Expenses by Function Reporting expenses by function means to classify and report expenses according to the type of activity for which the expenses...
What is the difference between the accounts rent receivable and rent revenue? Definition of Rent Receivable Rent Receivable is the title of the balance sheet asset account which indicates the amount of rent that has been...
Is Accounts Payable a debit or a credit or both? Definition of an Accounts Payable Credit Since Accounts Payable is a liability account, it should have a credit balance. The credit balance indicates the amount that a...
What is the reorder point? Definition of Reorder Point The reorder point is the quantity of units in inventory at which time an order should be placed to purchase additional units. The reorder point is calculated by...
What is an annuity in present value calculations? In present value calculations, an annuity is a series of equal cash amounts occurring at equal time intervals. The identical cash amounts are sometimes referred to as...
What does per annum mean? Definition of Per Annum Per annum means yearly or annually. It is a common phrase used to describe an interest rate. Often “per annum” is omitted, as in “I have a 4% mortgage loan.” or...
What does it mean to check the extensions and to foot an invoice? To check the extensions on a purchase invoice means to verify that the number of units of each item multiplied by its unit cost agrees with the total...
What are accrued liabilities? Definition of Accrued Liabilities Accrued liabilities are usually expenses that have been incurred by a company as of the end of an accounting period, but the amounts have not yet been paid...
Why are accruals needed every month? Reasons for Monthly Accruals Accrual adjusting entries are needed monthly only if a company issues monthly financial statements. Two reasons for the monthly accrual adjusting entries...
What is a debenture? A debenture is an unsecured bond. In other words, a debenture is a bond without a lien on specific assets owned by the issuing corporation. Join PRO to Track Progress Mark the Question as Read...
What is a basis point? A basis point is a hundredth (1/100) of a percentage point. Expressed another way, one percentage point is equal to 100 basis points. This means that if an interest rate drops by 1/2 of a...
What is the difference between a differential cost and an incremental cost? Definition of Differential Cost and Incremental Cost I use the terms differential cost and incremental cost to mean the same thing: the...
Are undeposited checks reported as cash? Undeposited checks that are not postdated (not dated with a future date) are reported as cash. Accountants define cash as more than just currency and coins. For example,...
What is an ordinary annuity? Definition of Ordinary Annuity In accounting, an ordinary annuity refers to a series of identical cash amounts with each amount occurring at the end of equal time intervals. Another term for...
What is the difference between information and data? I was taught that information is useful data. The point is there are lots of data (plural of datum) everywhere, and most of the data will not be useful to a decision...
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 difference between a deferred expense and a prepaid expense? Definition of Deferred Expense and Prepaid Expense Deferred expense and prepaid expense both refer to a payment that was made, but due to the...
What is the difference between a contingent liability and an estimated liability? Definition of a Contingent Liability A contingent liability is a potential liability (and a potential loss or potential expense). For a...
In a bank reconciliation, what happens to the outstanding checks of the previous month? Definition of Outstanding Checks Outstanding checks are checks written by a company, but the checks have not cleared the bank...
What is the entry for a loan to an employee? Definition of Loan to Employee A loan to an employee is money advanced by the company to assist the employee. If the employee is expected to repay the loan within one year of...
What is the difference between an unadjusted trial balance and an adjusted trial balance? Difference between Unadjusted Trial Balance and Adjusted Trial Balance The differences between an unadjusted trial balance and an...
How does petty cash affect expenses? Definition of Petty Cash Petty cash is a small amount of currency and coins that a company has available to make very small payments instead of requesting and processing a company...
What is a transposition error? Definition of Transposition Error A transposition error occurs when an amount is recorded incorrectly as the result of switching the positions of two (or more) digits. The switching of the...
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 illusory profit? Illusory profit, also called phantom profit, is the difference between 1) the profit reported using historical costs required by US GAAP, and 2) the profit computed using replacement costs....
What is the amortization of premium on bonds payable? Definition of Amortization of Premium on Bonds Payable The amortization of the premium on bonds payable is the systematic movement of the amount of premium received...
Are commissions considered to be revenues or expenses? Definition of Commissions Revenues or Expenses The company or person earning and receiving commissions (such as a percentage of sales) will have commissions revenue....
Where do I record the refund of a registration fee? If the registration fee refers to a fee expense that you had originally paid but the amount is now being refunded to you, I would credit the same expense account that...
When do you put parentheses ( ) around a number? Definition of Amounts in Parentheses Parentheses around a number could have a variety of meanings. For example, parentheses could indicate any of the following: A negative...
In adjusting entries, how do I know which T-accounts to use? We illustrate the common adjusting entries with the use of T-accounts in the Explanation of the Topic Adjusting Entries available for your reading at no...
What is the difference between assets and fixed assets? Assets are resources owned by a company as the result of transactions. Examples of assets are cash, accounts receivable, inventory, prepaid insurance, land,...
What are the disclosures for a manufacturer's inventory? A manufacturer should disclose the following categories of inventory: raw materials, work-in-process, finished goods, manufacturing supplies, and packaging...
How do you account for bond issue costs? Definition of Bond Issue Costs The costs associated with issuing bonds are debited to a contra liability account such as Bond Issue Costs. Over the life of the bonds, the issue...
How does the aging of accounts receivable determine bad debts expense? Definition of Aging of Accounts Receivable The aging of accounts receivable sorts the amounts that a company is owed (from customers who had...
What causes an unfavorable fixed overhead budget variance? An unfavorable fixed overhead budget variance results when the actual amount spent on fixed manufacturing overhead costs exceeds the budgeted amount. The fixed...
Featured Review
"I took an accounting course 30+ years ago but never really used it in my job(s). My job recently expanded into bookkeeping and I want to hone my skills; AccountingCoach is perfect for this - it allows me to move at my own pace, and I love the test quizzes and crossword puzzles - I can really see how I am retaining the information. The price of the course is well worth it!" - Debbie M.
Join PRO or PRO Plus and Get Lifetime Access to Our Premium Materials
Read all 2,645 reviews
For the past 52 years, Harold Averkamp (CPA, MBA) has
worked as an accounting supervisor, manager, consultant, university instructor, and innovator in teaching accounting online. He is the sole author of all the materials on AccountingCoach.com.
We now offer 10 Certificates of Achievement for Introductory Accounting and Bookkeeping: