What is purchase discounts lost? Definition of Purchase Discounts Lost The account Purchase Discounts Lost is a general ledger account used by a company that records vendors’ invoices using the net method. A debit...
What is purchase discounts lost? Definition of Purchase Discounts Lost The account Purchase Discounts Lost is a general ledger account used by a company that records vendors’ invoices using the net method. A debit...
What does it mean to rotate stock? Definition of Rotating Inventory Stock To rotate stock means to arrange the oldest units in inventory so they are sold before the newer units. The goal is to avoid losses due to getting...
If I want a gross margin of 25%, what percent should I mark up my product? Definition of Gross Margin Gross margin as a percentage is the gross profit divided by the selling price. For example, if a product sells for...
What is an account payable? Definition of an Account Payable An account payable is an amount owed to a supplier or vendor for goods or services that were provided in advance of payment. However, some people use the term...
What is a permanent account? Definition of Permanent Account In accounting, a permanent account refers to a general ledger account that is not closed at the end of an accounting year. The balance in a permanent account...
What is the difference between expenses and payments? Definition of Expenses and Payments Under the accrual method of accounting, expenses are costs that have been used up or have been incurred in the process of earning...
What is a memorandum entry? Definition of Memorandum Entry A memorandum entry is a short message entered into the general journal and also entered into a general ledger account. It is not a complete journal entry because...
What is the abbreviation for debit and credit? Abbreviation for Debit and Credit The abbreviation for debit is dr. and the abbreviation for credit is cr. Apparently the “dr.” is associated with the term used in Italy...
What is an unpresented cheque or check and does it require an adjustment to the balance sheet? Definition of Unpresented Cheque or Check An unpresented cheque is a check that a company has written, but the check has not...
Is it possible to have a balance sheet for a single day? A balance sheet presents the amounts of a company’s assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity as of an instant or moment in time within a day. Usually it is the...
What is interest expense? Definition of Interest Expense Interest expense is the cost of borrowing money during a specified period of time. Interest expense is occurring daily, but the interest is likely to be paid...
What are goods in transit? Definition of Goods in Transit Goods in transit refers to inventory items and other products that have been shipped by a seller, but have not yet reached the purchaser. When goods are in...
How do you treat voided checks on the bank reconciliation? Definition of Voided Check on Bank Reconciliation If a check was voided in the current month but was written in the previous month and appeared on the previous...
What is a limitation of the inventory turnover ratio? Definition of Inventory Turnover Ratio The inventory turnover ratio is often calculated by dividing a company’s cost of goods sold for a recent year by the average...
How are dividends paid when there are dividends in arrears? Definition of Dividends in Arrears Dividends in arrears exist when a corporation has: Cumulative preferred stock Omitted past dividends on the cumulative...
What is the definition of net sales? Definition of Net Sales Net sales is a company’s gross sales of products minus any sales discounts and sales returns and allowances. When a company makes a sale, the general ledger...
Should a cash discount be recorded as a reduction to an expense? Yes, a cash discount should be a reduction to an expense. After all, accountants define cost as the cash amount (or cash equivalent amount) at the time of...
What is the entry to remove equipment that is sold before it is fully depreciated? Entries To Record a Sale of Equipment When equipment that is used in a business is disposed of (sold) for cash before it is fully...
What is historical cost? Definition of Historical Cost Historical cost is a term used instead of the term cost. Cost and historical cost usually mean the original cost at the time of a transaction. The term historical...
What is the units of activity depreciation? Definition of Units-of-Activity Depreciation The units-of-activity depreciation is unique among the common methods of depreciation in that the useful life of the asset being...
What is a capital account? Definition of Capital Account In accounting and bookkeeping, a capital account is a general ledger account that is part of the balance sheet classification: Owner’s equity (in a sole...
Should an owner's compensation be recorded as an expense or in the Drawing account? If the enterprise is a sole proprietorship, the owner’s compensation should be debited to the Drawing account. If the enterprise is a...
What is a credit memo? Definition of Credit Memo One type of credit memo is issued by a seller in order to reduce the amount that a customer owes from a previously issued sales invoice. Another type of credit memo, or...
What is a toxic asset? I would define a toxic asset as an investment whose value has dropped significantly and there is no market in which to sell the asset. To illustrate, let’s assume that at the peak of the real...
What is the meaning of pro rata? Pro rata is a Latin term that means in proportion. Pro rata is related to prorate, a term used in cost accounting. To illustrate the term pro rata, let’s assume that a company’s...
What is the monetary unit assumption? Definition of Monetary Unit Assumption The monetary unit assumption as it applies to a U.S. corporation is that the U.S.dollar (USD) is stable in the long run. That is, the USD does...
Are earnings different from profits? Earnings and profits are often used interchangeably. Others might make a distinction between the two words. In the case of earnings per share, earnings means a corporation’s net...
What is net working capital? Definition of Net Working Capital Net working capital is the amount (as opposed to being a ratio) remaining after subtracting a company’s total amount of current liabilities from its total...
What is a fringe benefit rate? Definition of Fringe Benefit Rate A fringe benefit rate is a percentage that results from dividing the cost of an employee’s fringe benefits by the wages paid to the employee for the...
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 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 the working capital ratio? Definition of Working Capital Ratio The working capital ratio is defined as the amount of a company’s current assets divided by the amount of its current liabilities. Hence, the...
Our Explanation of Standard Costing uses an easy-to-relate to example for illustrating a manufacturer's standard costs and variances. Also provided is a chart which indicates each variance, what it tells you, and where...
What is the cost of goods sold? Definition of Cost of Goods Sold The cost of goods sold is the cost of the products that a retailer, distributor, or manufacturer has sold. The cost of goods sold is reported on the income...
flow assumption from FIFO to the LIFO because they were experiencing rising costs. By flowing the recent higher costs into the cost of goods sold on the income statement and tax return (and keeping the older lower costs...
pays $100,000 in interest to its lenders. The $100,000 will appear on the corporation’s income statement as interest expense and will reduce the line net income before income tax expense and the line income tax...
, the payment will be a debit of $27,720 to Accounts Payable, a debit of $280 to Purchase Discounts, a credit to Cash for $28,000. Purchase Discounts Lost is an income statement account.] Join PRO to Track Progress Mark...
for providing insurance protection for the next six months. Until the money is earned, the insurance company should report the unearned amount as a current liability such as Unearned Insurance Premiums. As the insurance...
manufacturing overhead cost per unit will be $6 ($600,000 divided by 100,000 units). If the 100,000 units are sold for $20 each, the income statement will report sales revenues of $2,000,000 and its cost of goods sold...
to be removed from inventory and matched with the sales revenues reported on the income statement. This means that the oldest costs remain in inventory. LIFO became popular due to inflation and the fact the U.S. income...
Featured Review
"With the resources available through AccountingCoach, I was able to learn many of the fundamentals about accounting and bookkeeping without any prior background. With the wealth of knowledge provided by AccountingCoach at my back, I've been able to take over all accounting functions for a $5M company after less than a year. I used other resources as well, but couldn't have done it without the firm base established by my time studying AccountingCoach." - Nick B.
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: