The expense associated with a commitment to repair or replace a product for a specified period of time. The expense should be reported on the income statement at the time that the sale of the product is reported in order...
The expense associated with a commitment to repair or replace a product for a specified period of time. The expense should be reported on the income statement at the time that the sale of the product is reported in order...
A word that means to add column totals across to see if the sum will equal the grand total. In the table below each of the columns A through Total was “footed” (added or summed) in order to get each...
One of the first efforts begun in the 1970s by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to articulate and organize into a cohesive framework all of the accounting rules that had been developed in the past. It was hoped...
The moving average cost of inventory items under the perpetual inventory system. A new average cost per unit is developed after each purchase of an inventory item. To learn more, see Explanation of Inventory and Cost of...
The amounts withheld for employees’ checks for Social Security tax, Medicare tax, federal income tax, state income tax, and voluntary deductions such as United Way, union dues, 401(k) contributions,...
Current assets minus current liabilities.
The actual cost of direct materials, the actual cost of direct labor, and manufacturing overhead applied by using a predetermined annual overhead rate.
A target rate. For example, companies may decide to invest only in projects that generate an internal rate of return that is in excess of 12%. The 12% figure becomes the hurdle rate.
The dollar amount associated with the goods in a company’s inventory. Initially the cost per unit is the cost to get the inventory items in place and ready for use. However, under certain circumstances the cost may...
See International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).
Pushing authority and decision making down to the managers and employees who are closer to the work.
A technique using simultaneous equations to allocate a manufacturer’s service departments’ costs to both other service departments and to production departments.
The statistic known as the coefficient of correlation. The range of this statistic is -1 to +1. When this statistic is squared the result is the percentage change in the dependent variable y that is explained by the...
See generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
Used in conjunction with cost or expense behavior. Mixed expenses consist of a constant or fixed portion and a variable portion. For example, sales salaries would be a mixed expense if each sales person’s...
Journal entries usually dated the last day of the accounting period to bring the balance sheet and income statement up to date on the accrual basis of accounting. Adjusting entries are made to report (1) revenues that...
In financial accounting this term refers to the amount of debt excluding interest. Payments on mortgage loans usually require monthly payments of principal and interest.
A liability account that reports the amount a company owes as of the date of the balance sheet for the company’s pension plan. Information on pensions can be found in an Intermediate Accounting textbook.
The acronym for cost of sales or for the cost of services.
A driver of a change in the amount of a dependent variable. The independent variable is usually represented by “x”, the dependent variable by “y”, the rate of change by “b”, and the...
The present fair market value.
In activity-based costing, this refers to the number of items that will be produced after a machine has been setup.
A right to buy a specific number of shares of stock at a specific price by a specific date.
A budget that does not flex for changes in volume or activity.
A stock split, such as a 2-for-1, means that every stockholder will have twice as many shares as was held previously. Accordingly, the market price per share after the split should be one-half of the market price...
Operations of an entire division, subsidiary, or segment of a company where a formal plan exists to eliminate it from the company. (It involves more than pruning a product line of certain models of products.) The...
The systematic allocation of the cost of an asset from the balance sheet to Depreciation Expense on the income statement over the useful life of the asset. (The depreciation journal entry includes a debit to Depreciation...
See unrelated business income tax.
An individual owner of a business that is not incorporated.
Long term assets of a company such as minerals, oil reserves, timberland, stone quarries, etc. The term depletion is associated with natural resources.
A subgroup of a nonprofit’s supporting activities expenses. This functional expense classification is used for the fundraising activities including fundraising campaigns, mailings for funds from supporters, and...
The gross amount of purchases minus the amount of purchase returns, purchase allowances, and purchase discounts.
A series of equal amounts occurring at the beginning of each equal time interval. Also known as an annuity due. An example would be the monthly rent on an apartment.
A department that is directly involved in manufacturing products. Examples are the machining, finishing, and assembling departments.
Usually refers to manufacturing overhead costs such as factory supplies, factory depreciation, indirect factory labor, etc. To learn more, see Explanation of Manufacturing Overhead.
A method where only the variable manufacturing costs are assigned to inventory and the cost of goods sold. Fixed manufacturing costs are viewed as expenses of the period in which they are incurred. This method is not...
The elimination of part or all of a markdown.
A part of a manufacturer’s inventory that includes direct and indirect materials. Also see inventory: materials.
Goods sold by a retailer, wholesaler, distributor, manufacturer, etc.
Featured Review
"I'm currently a finance associate for a nonprofit. I came to a career in finance from having been involved with nonprofits in other capacities. I realized after starting my position (my first real finance job) that I was missing key contextual pieces. AccountingCoach was recommended to me as a professional development solution to help round out my knowledge. I like that the material is self-paced, meaning you can do as little or as much as you want in a sitting. It's also easy to look up specific terms or lingo and see what they mean, which is very helpful in the day-to-day. I don't have time to take an evening class, so it's a perfect middle-ground solution for me! Thanks to the material, I have come a long way from where I started 1.5 years ago, and I'm now able to play a much more essential role when it comes to our monthly and yearly reporting. I have also been given more responsibilities at my job, as my understanding of financial concepts and terminology has increased." - Alex K.
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: