the cost of real estate into the cost of the land and the cost of the buildings. Example of Appraised Value Appraised values are useful because a company’s balance sheet will report its land and buildings at the cost...
the cost of real estate into the cost of the land and the cost of the buildings. Example of Appraised Value Appraised values are useful because a company’s balance sheet will report its land and buildings at the cost...
Why are some expenses deferred? Definition of Deferred Expenses Under the accrual basis of accounting, an expense is a cost that is used up, has expired, or is directly related to revenues reported on a company’s...
Accumulated Depreciation (instead of crediting the asset account which has the asset’s original cost), it allows for the balance sheet to report or disclose the following: The original cost of the asset being...
Why is inventory turnover important? Definition of Inventory Turnover A company’s inventory turnover is often expressed as the company’s cost of goods sold for a year divided by the average cost of inventory during...
by a company’s liabilities will generally have a lower cost than money raised from stockholders’ equity for the following reasons: Some liabilities such as accounts payable have no interest expense associated with...
will cause the related expense known as the cost of goods sold to be reported/recognized on the July income statement. If the company’s sales reps have earned commissions on the July sales, these commissions...
of warranty is referred to as an assurance-type warranty. In accounting jargon, the assurance-type warranty is an example of a contingent that is both probable and can be estimated. Therefore, a company must record in...
. Accounting for Office Supplies The cost of office supplies on hand at the end of an accounting period should be the balance in a current asset account such as Supplies or Supplies on Hand. The cost of the office...
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...
Inventory is dormant and contains only the cost of the prior year’s ending inventory. With the periodic inventory system, the costs of additional purchases of goods are debited to the temporary account Purchases....
What is straight line depreciation? Definition of Straight-Line Depreciation Straight-line depreciation is the most common method of allocating the cost of a plant asset to expense in the accounting periods during which...
of a decentralized corporation such as related subsidiary corporations, separate divisions of a corporation, or some other subunits. Depending on the production capacity and the demand for each subunit’s goods or...
of the year. Accumulated Depreciation is a matching principle. In each accounting period, part of the cost of certain assets (equipment, building, vehicle, etc.) will be moved from the balance sheet to depreciation...
balance in a contra asset account will violate the cost principle.) Examples of Contra Asset Accounts The most common contra asset account is Accumulated Depreciation. Accumulated Depreciation is associated with...
How do you account for payroll withholdings for health insurance? Definition of Payroll Withholdings for Health Insurance Payroll withholdings for health insurance are the amounts deducted from employees’ pay for their...
. The equipment’s cost was $100,000 and its accumulated depreciation as of its recent balance sheet date was $40,000. This means that up to the balance sheet date $40,000 of the asset’s cost had been reported as...
and detailed accounting standards found in the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) electronic search system known as the Accounting Standards Codification. The following are some of the underlying concepts,...
Our Explanation of Accounts Receivable and Bad Debts Expense helps you understand the accounting for the losses associated with selling goods and providing services on credit. You will understand the impact on the...
will result in a larger loss on the owner’s cash Examples of Financial Leverage Mary uses $500,000 of her cash to purchase 40 acres of land with a total cost of $500,000. Mary is not using financial leverage. Sue uses...
of depreciation, while the “declining balance” refers to the asset’s book value or carrying value at the beginning of the accounting period. Since book value is an asset’s cost minus its accumulated...
Our Explanation of Accounting Basics uses a simple story to introduce important accounting concepts and terminology. It illustrates how transactions will be included in a company's financial statements.
Our Explanation of Accounts Payable provides insights on the bill paying process in a large company. Included are discussions of the three-way match, early payment discounts, end of period accruals, and more.
A gain that occurs by holding an asset. For example, if a company bought land for $20,000 many years ago and today the company continues to hold the land and its value is now $175,000, the company has a holding gain of...
Where is treasury stock reported on the balance sheet? Under the cost method of recording treasury stock, the cost of treasury stock is reported at the end of the Stockholders’ Equity section of the balance sheet....
Goodwill is a long-term (or noncurrent) asset categorized as an intangible asset. Goodwill arises when a company acquires another entire business. The amount of goodwill is the cost to purchase the business minus the...
This is a contra long-term asset account which is credited for the depreciation associated with Buildings. Since it is a balance sheet account, the accumulated depreciation account balance does not close at the end of...
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...
Some examples of intangible assets include copyrights, patents, goodwill, trade names, trademarks, mail lists, etc. These assets will be reported at cost (or lower) on the balance sheet after property, plant and...
This account is a contra long-term asset account which is credited for the depreciation associated with land improvements. As an asset account, the accumulated depreciation account balance does not close at the end of...
Under the accrual basis of accounting, the account Rent Expense will report the cost of occupying space during the time interval indicated in the heading of the income statement, whether or not the rent was paid within...
Under the accrual basis of accounting, this account reports the cost of the electricity, heat, sewer, and water used during the period indicated in the heading of the income statement. Because utility companies deliver...
This accounting guideline states that if doubt exists between two acceptable alternatives (in other words the accountant needs to break a tie), the accountant should choose the alternative that will result in a lesser...
Are repairs to office equipment an expense? Repairing and maintaining office equipment is an immediate expense. This is true even if the repair cost is a very large amount. If a large expenditure is made to improve...
What is depreciation? Definition of Depreciation In accounting, depreciation is the assigning or allocating of the cost of a plant asset (other than land) to expense in the accounting periods that are within the...
__________ __________. 13. The financial statement that has the form of the accounting equation is the __________ __________. 14. The word for a cost that has expired or has been matched with revenues is __________. 15....
is the total amount that the owner has earned before income taxes for 1) the capital invested in the business and 2) the owner’s compensation for working in the business. In the case of a regular corporation owned by...
a corporation’s Retained Earnings account (or a sole owner’s capital account) and will be closed to these balance sheet equity accounts at the end of the accounting year. Join PRO to Track Progress Mark the Question...
Our Explanation of Depreciation emphasizes what the depreciation amounts on the income statement and balance sheet represent. Learn why depreciation is an estimated expense that does not assist in determining the current...
Featured Review
"AccountingCoach has been a God-send to me for years! When I got thrown into a bookkeeping position many years ago I floundered terribly until I stumbled upon AccountingCoach.com. I can't say enough about how thorough and detailed the website is with lessons, quizzes, tests, tons of downloads, guides, and handy cheat sheets. After only a few weeks on the website I had gained the skills and confidence I needed to become competent at and comfortable with my job. When I realized I loved bookkeeping I decided to enhance my knowledge even further with a college accounting course, and I must say in all honesty, it paled in comparison to what I was learning on AccountingCoach.com. Although I've been bookkeeping many years now, there is always something for me to learn on AccountingCoach.com and I devote several hours every week to getting on the site to refresh my skills or to learn something new. This is a rare company in that it is devoted not only to teaching accounting and bookkeeping in easy-to-understand terms, but also to exceptional customer service! Thank you Accounting Coach for your genuine approach to all you do!" - Terri L.
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: