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 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.
Debits and Credits(Quick Test #4 with Coaching) Download PDF This Quick Test with Coaching includes a “View Coaching” button to the right of each answer box. If you choose to click the button, an explanation for the...
What is process costing? Definition of Process Costing Process costing is a term used in cost accounting to describe one method for collecting and assigning manufacturing costs to the units produced. A processing cost...
What are mixed costs? Definition of Mixed Costs In accounting, the term mixed costs refers to costs and expenses that consist of two components: A fixed component, the total of which does not change as the volume of...
Bookkeeping(Quick Test #2) Download PDF After you have answered all 20 questions, click "Grade This Quick Test" at the bottom of the page to view your grade and receive feedback on your answers. Note: Some of the...
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...
Why do purchases appear as expenses on an income statement? Definition of Purchases In the context of companies that sell merchandise, the term purchases refers to the purchases of goods that are intended to be sold to...
What is the death spiral? Definition of Death Spiral In cost accounting and managerial accounting, the term death spiral refers to the repeated elimination of a manufacturer’s products which will result in spreading...
What does it mean to amortize a loan? Definition of Amortize a Loan To amortize a loan usually means establishing a series of equal monthly payments that will provide the lender with: An interest payment based on the...
What is the annual wage limit? Definition of Annual Wage Limit Annual wage limit is a payroll accounting term that is associated with the Social Security payroll tax. (The annual wage limit is also known as the annual...
What is revenue? Definition of Revenue Revenue is the amount a company receives from selling goods and/or providing services to its customers and clients. A company’s revenue, which is reported on the first line of its...
What is a fixed expense? Definition of Fixed Expense A fixed expense is an expense whose total amount does not change when there is an increase in an activity such as sales or production. The words within a relevant or...
What is income smoothing? Definition of Income Smoothing Income smoothing involves reducing the fluctuations in a corporation’s earnings. The reductions in fluctuations can result from some legitimate business methods...
What is net realizable value? Definition of Net Realizable Value Net realizable value (NRV) is the cash amount that a company expects to receive. Hence, net realizable value is sometimes referred to as cash realizable...
Our Explanation of Accounting Equation (or bookkeeping equation) illustrates how the double-entry system keeps the accounting equation in balance. You will see how the revenues and expenses on the income statement are...
Our Explanation of Accounting Equation (or bookkeeping equation) illustrates how the double-entry system keeps the accounting equation in balance. You will see how the revenues and expenses on the income statement are...
What is the accrual basis of accounting? Definition of Accrual Basis of Accounting Under the accrual basis of accounting (or accrual method of accounting), revenues are reported on the income statement when they are...
Debits and Credits(Quick Test #1) Download PDF After you have answered all 30 questions, click "Grade This Quick Test" at the bottom of the page to view your grade and receive feedback on your answers. Note: Some of the...
Our Explanation of Stockholders' Equity covers the unique terminology for a corporation's paid-in capital, retained earnings, treasury stock, and accumulated other comprehensive income. Included are cash dividends, stock...
What is the difference between vertical analysis and horizontal analysis? Definition of Vertical Analysis Vertical analysis expresses each amount on a financial statement as a percentage of another amount. The vertical...
Can you help me to understand credit memo and debit memo in the bank reconciliation? Definition of Bank Credit Memo A bank credit memo is an item on a company’s bank account statement that increases a company’s...
What is a stock split? Definition of Stock Split A stock split usually refers to a corporation dividing its existing number of shares of common stock into a greater number of shares. For instance, a corporation with...
Accounting Basics (Word Scramble) Download PDF To see each answer, press or click on the blue "Unscramble" button. If you have difficulty answering the following questions, learn more about this topic by reading our...
Payroll Accounting(Quick Test #2) Download PDF After you have answered all 25 questions, click "Grade This Quick Test" at the bottom of the page to view your grade and receive feedback on your answers. Note: Some of the...
Our Explanation of Stockholders' Equity covers the unique terminology for a corporation's paid-in capital, retained earnings, treasury stock, and accumulated other comprehensive income. Included are cash dividends, stock...
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...
Bookkeeping (Test for Prospective Employees #1) Download PDF After you have answered all 40 questions, click "Grade This Quick Test" at the bottom of the page to view your grade and receive feedback on your answers....
Our Explanation of Nonprofit Accounting includes a chart that contrasts the financial statements of a nonprofit (or not-for-profit) organization with those of a for-profit business corporation. There are many examples to...
Accounts Receivable and Bad Debts Expense Accounts Receivable Accounts receivable refers to a company’s unsecured claim for money it is owed by a customer or client for goods and/or services the company had provided on...
Our Explanation of Present Value of a Single Amount discusses the time value of money and the need to discount future amounts to the time of an investment or other transaction. The present value of 1 table is used to...
Our Explanation of Evaluating Business Investments compares four of the techniques for reviewing potential capital expenditures. You will be introduced to accounting rate of return, payback, net present value, and...
Our Explanation of Manufacturing Overhead gives you examples of what is included in manufacturing overhead. You will learn that these are indirect product costs and therefore are allocated to the products in order to...
How do you determine the fixed portion of overhead cost? I suggest that the first step in determining the fixed portion of a mixed cost (a cost that is partially fixed and partially variable) is to graph the data. Label...
Financial Accounting Financial Accounting Financial accounting is a type or branch of accounting that begins with the recording, sorting and storing of a business’s transactions in accounts contained in its general...
Manufacturing Overhead For multiple-choice and true/false questions, simply press or click on what you think is the correct answer. For fill-in-the-blank questions, press or click on the blank space provided. If you have...
Bookkeeping Bookkeeping in the Past Historically, bookkeepers were responsible for the following steps in the accounting cycle: Record all the company’s transactions in journals Post the amounts from the journals to...
Income Statement(Quick Test #2 with Coaching) Download PDF This Quick Test with Coaching includes a “View Coaching” button to the right of each answer box. If you choose to click the button, an explanation for the...
Our Explanation of Adjusting Entries gives you a process and an understanding of how to make the adjusting entries in order to have an accurate balance sheet and income statement. Eight examples including T-accounts for...
Our Explanation of Bookkeeping provides you with a rich understanding of the recording of transactions. It then discusses the additional steps necessary for preparing accurate financial statements. This is great for...
Adjusting Entries(Quick Test #2) Download PDF After you have answered all 30 questions, click "Grade This Quick Test" at the bottom of the page to view your grade and receive feedback on your answers. Note: Some of the...
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: