The accounting guideline requiring that revenues be shown on the income statement in the period in which they are earned, not in the period when the cash is collected. This is part of the accrual basis of accounting (as...
The accounting guideline requiring that revenues be shown on the income statement in the period in which they are earned, not in the period when the cash is collected. This is part of the accrual basis of accounting (as...
What is meant by the full cost of a product? Many (perhaps most) accountants use the term full cost to mean the full manufacturing or production cost of a product. To these accountants this means a product’s cost of...
I don't understand the conservatism principle. Why do losses get recorded but not gains? Conservatism has to do with uncertainty. When uncertainty exists between two alternatives that appear to be reasonable, the...
its employees with 120 hours of paid vacation in the year following the employees’ full-time employment. Let’s also assume that the company has only one full-time employee who began working at the company on January...
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...
Our Explanation of Financial Statements provides you with the highlights of each of the five external financial statements issued by U.S. corporations. Our insights will give you a good understanding of what the...
A potential loss that is dependent upon some future event occurring or not occurring. If the loss is probable and the amount can be estimated, then the loss and a liability are recorded with a journal entry. If the loss...
How do you calculate staff turnover? To calculate staff turnover, I would use the W-2 wage statements for the most recent year. My first step would be to sort the W-2’s into meaningful groups such as full-time...
a lower amount of cost of goods sold. Smoothing income by abusing the leeway in accounting principles is unethical and does a disservice to the users of the financial statements. Accountants should follow the...
receivable would be collected in full. (Therefore, the corporation did not have any allowance for doubtful accounts.) On January 28 the corporation learns that the customer filed for bankruptcy and none of the...
transaction. 12. Every transaction will have one account being credited and one account being __________ debited. 13. The accounting equation is Assets = __________ Liabilities + Stockholders' (or Owner's)...
What does the cost principle mean for a company's income statement? If a company has buildings, equipment and inventory, the cost principle will mean that the amount of depreciation expense and the cost of goods...
The standards, rules, guidelines, and industry-specific requirements for financial reporting. To learn more about accounting principles, see our Accounting Principles Outline.
General rules upon which more-detailed, specific accounting rules and standards are based. To learn more, see Explanation of Accounting Principles.
The basic general rules upon which more detailed accounting standards are built. To learn more, see Explanation of Accounting Principles.
The acronym for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. This measure is used by some companies as a supplementary disclosure, since EBITDA does not comply with U.S. GAAP (generally accepted...
This group preceded the current Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). The APB members served in a part-time capacity to determine the accounting standards from 1962 to 1973. The accounting rules established by the...
disclosure required by Statement 33 was the reporting of the effects of general inflation as indicated by the change in the consumer price index. In other words, a large company had to disclose in the notes to its...
Depreciation (Explanation). 1. Depreciation Expense shown on a company's income statement must be the same amount as the depreciation expense on the company's income tax return. True Wrong. The amount on the...
A gain from holding an asset and the gain has not yet been reported in the financial statements. As an example, assume that a company purchased land many years ago and continues to hold the land. The land was purchased...
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...
A loan from a bank or other lender in which the borrower has pledged an asset as collateral in case the loan cannot be repaid in full.
A budget that continuously shows the amounts for a full year into the future. As a month or quarter actually occurs, it is removed from the budget and is replaced by the budgeted amounts for a month or quarter in the...
The depreciation method that results in the same equal amount of depreciation expense for each full year over the life of the asset. See Explanation of Depreciation for an illustration and further discussion of...
The general guidelines and principles, standards and detailed rules, plus industry practices that exist for financial reporting. Often referred to by its acronymn GAAP. To learn more, see Explanation of Accounting...
Why does our company's balance sheet report its land at cost when it is so much more valuable? Accountants are guided by the cost principle. This requires accountants to report assets at their cost when...
) are not reported at their higher liquidation value because of several accounting principles. Below are four accounting principles that come to mind. The cost principle requires that plant assets be reported at amounts...
, it is a contingent asset and a contingent gain. As such, it will not be recorded in Company A’s general ledger accounts until the lawsuit is settled. (At most, Company A could prepare a carefully worded disclosure...
Also referred to as a subsequent event. An event occurring after the date of the balance sheet, but prior to the date that the balance sheet is actually released. For example, a balance sheet dated December 31 might be...
liability Interest Payable. Since interest expense is an important amount, the statement of cash flows must disclose the amount of interest paid. This is often achieved through a supplementary disclosure. Join PRO to...
A potential liability dependent upon some future event occurring or not occurring. For example, a company is named as a defendant in a $1 million lawsuit. Does that mean the company automatically has a liability of $1...
in arrears also requires a disclosure in the notes to the financial statements. Arrears is also used in the context of annuities. When an annuity’s equal payments occur at the end of each period, the annuity is said...
Why is the Cash Flow Statement identified as one of the financial statements? The Cash Flow Statement or Statement of Cash Flows is required as part of a full set of financial statements because of the Financial...
, or inflation-adjusted cost. Generally, the cost principle or historical cost principle requires that an asset should be reported at its cash or cash equivalent amount at the time of the transaction and should include...
materials and direct labor) will be part of the cost of the items in inventory and the cost of the items sold. Accountants refer to this as full absorption costing. Accountants will also say that the manufactured goods...
an account receivable is actually removed from the company’s receivables. Under the direct write off method there is no contra asset account such as Allowance for Doubtful Accounts. This means that the balance sheet...
will cover the 12 months of March 2024 through February 2025. The benefit of a rolling budget is that the company’s management will always have a budget that looks forward for one full year. A rolling budget could use...
on credit and offers an early payment discount expressed as 1/10, net 30. This means that a customer is allowed to deduct 1% of the invoice amount, if payment is made within 10 days (instead of paying the full...
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...
An accounting principle/guideline that allows the accountant to keep the sole proprietor’s business transactions separate from the owner’s personal transactions even though a sole proprietorship is not...
Featured Review
"As an aspiring online bookkeeper with prior office experience in the same field, I found myself seeking a stronger foundation in accounting. That's when I discovered AccountingCoach PRO, and it's been an absolute game-changer. The site reignited my passion for accounting, offering a well-structured platform that's become my go-to for reinforcing the basics. What I appreciate most is the clarity and depth of the materials; they've not only helped me brush up on concepts but have also enabled me to confidently recommend this resource to my community of aspiring and established online bookkeepers and accountants on Facebook. Thanks to AccountingCoach PRO, I've rekindled my enthusiasm for learning, and am building a more robust skill set to excel in my career journey." - John O.
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: